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A HANDBOOK 



ENGLISH LITERATURE. 



LONDON I 

PRINTED BY "WOOL-FALL AXD KINDER, 
MILFORD LANE, STRAND, W. 



HANDBOOK 



ENGLISH LITERATURE. 



POETS. 



WILLIAM GEORGE LAEKINS, 



FELLOW OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY ; FELLOW OF THE STATISTICAL 
SOCIETY ; SECRETARY OF THE METROPOLITAN ASSOCIATION FOR 
PROMOTING THE EDUCATION OF ADULTS. 




L 0 XI) 0 N : 
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, 

THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE. 
1867. 



NOTE. 



As in the study of the Prose Literature, the student 
will do well to read carefully the introduction to each 
period before commencing the study of the individual 
authors. 



CONTENTS. 



POETS. 

PAGE 

Introduction 1 

FIRST PERIOD. 

From Chaucer to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century. . . . 17 

SECOND PERIOD. 



From the Revival of Letters, consequent upon the Introduction of 

the Art of Printing, to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century 33 



THIRD PERIOD. 

Puritan Influence 51 

FOURTH PERIOD. 

French Influence 75 

FIFTH PERIOD. 

Modern Popular Influence 88 

Conclusion 158 

Appendix of American Authors 165 



HANDBOOK 

OF 

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 



POETS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The Bard among the Britons, and the Gleeman among 
the Saxons, were two most important personages. To 
their keeping were entrusted the history and records of 
their nation and people, which they were required to 
religiously preserve and hand down to posterity with 
scrupulous fidelity. In order to ensure this fidelity in 
the absence of written documents, the facts were em- 
bodied in such a form that the ring of the words, the 
jingle of the lines, and a certain alliteration and rhyme, 
should help the memory to retain the impression. For 
this reason, therefore, nearly all the early British litera- 
ture, especially the historical, is in verse, and devoted to 
the recounting of the deeds of warriors renowned in 
battle. After the introduction of Christianity, the 
Scripture narrative offered fit subjects, which were 
treated in the same manner. 

The Bard held a different position from the Gleeman. 
He was generally of high rank, often a priest or prophet. 
His office was sacred, and entitled him to respect and 
obedience. The Gleeman, on the contrary, was a wan- 

B * 



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dering minstrel, who, as night fell — the " shadow cover- 
ing of creatures " as he would have said — would take 
his place by the "mead bench," and touch his harp, the 
" wood of joy," the " glee-bearer," and to its strains 
sing or relate his glee or song of joy. The sturdy 
warriors, as his "glee" was in praise of heroes who 
died covered with wounds and glory in battle, or called 
for vengeance on victorious enemies, would be roused to 
enthusiasm and revenge. The present, too, was as often 
his theme as the past. He sang the virtues of the 
brave chieftain whose hospitality he experienced, and 
exulted over his enemy. He stung the cowardly with 
his sharp scorn, and held out the reward of bright eyes 
and fall mead cup to the brave, who lived to see the 
end of the battle, and promised long draughts of ale 
out of the enemy's skull in Odin's hall to the hero that 
might be slain. His memory was well stored with the 
stories and legends of his country, which he wove into 
metre as he grew skilful. To the records of the past 
he added the story of his own day, and thus carried 
the news of events from one part to another, and per- 
petuated what might otherwise have been forgotten. 
Such was the Saxon Gleeman, who played no unimpor- 
tant part in the Saxon drama, although he looms but 
very indistinctly, in the dim twilight of 1,500 years 
ago. His profession required aptitude, learning, and an 
untiring nature. The character of the verses which he 
strung together has been thus described. " The poetry 
of the Anglo-Saxons was neither modulated according 
to foot-measure, like that of the Greeks and Romans, 
nor written with rhymes, like that of many modern 
languages. Its chief and universal characteristic was 
a very regular alliteration, so arranged that in eveiy 
couplet there should be two principal words in the first 
line beginning with the same letter, which letter must 
also be the initial of the first word, on which the stress 
of the voice falls in the second line. The only approach 
to a metrical system yet discovered is, that two risings 
and two fallings of the voice seem necessary to each 



English Literature. 



8 



perfect line. Two distinct measures are met with, a 
shorter and a longer, both commonly mixed together in 
the same poem ; the former being used for the ordinary 
narrative, and the latter adopted when the poet sought 
after greater dignity. In the manuscripts the Saxon 
poetry is always written continuously, like prose ; but 
the division of the lines is generally marked by a point. " 

Neither the character nor the mode of life of the 
adventurous Norsemen were calculated to produce a 
vivid imagination. Living principally upon the sea, and 
depending upon its fish for food, engendered in them 
a sternness of disposition which was in direct contrast 
with the more inland and southern nations. 

To be a brave man and a bold fisherman, was the 
manly excellence to which, their youth endeavoured to 
attain, and only such were allowed to join them in their 
expeditions. These expeditions were chiefly to other 
lands in search, of luxuries, and it often happened, as 
in the case of England, that they found the new country 
so inviting that they destroyed upon the beach the " sea- 
horses " which had brought them over the " wave paths," 
in order that retreat might be impossible to any. 

This love of adventure and the sea has left its mark 
upon the English character. In our introduction to 
English prose, it is shown how the language and 
character of the literature was affected by the changes 
consequent upon its growth, and the infusion of new 
blood and new ideas at the Conquest. It is not out of 
place here, in order to account for the peculiarly unima- 
ginative character of the poetry of the same period, to 
consider briefly how far that comes to be so, and what 
permanent effect was produced on the English character 
by the descent of the Northmen. 

As we have just said, they were bold and adventurous. 
The sea makes men brave ; there can be no cowardly 
fishermen ; moreover, they are frequently compelled to 
sail long distances, through their calling. It may be 
that, without a guide and tempest tossed, the first settlers 
in Britain from the Scandinavian shore arrived by 

b 2 



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accident. Any way they did come, and that pretty 
rapidly too, till they had moulded into the type of 
English nationality marks too strongly fixed to be 
removed. Till they settled down, they were little more 
than a heterogeneous mass of fighting thieves, wander- 
ing about where they listed and without impediments. 
The Norman Conquest was the last act in the long 
drama of history which finally settled the nationality, 
and this nationality possessed a far greater proportion 
of the Saxon and Danish element than any other. The 
fine bold spirit which is manifested to the present day by 
the Anglo-Saxon race is due to this fact. The spirit of 
adventure and the love of the sea is distinctly from the 
north, and the English have given evidence of it at all 
times. Our Alpine clubs, our love of open-air sports, 
of hunting and yachting and boating, is all due to the 
Viking blood which runs in our veins. On the other 
hand, our love of buying, selling, and bartering is an 
exemplification of our Saxon nature. To this we also 
owe our sense of right and duty, and the very bottom 
of our English character. Had we remained purely 
Saxon, our condition would have been somewhat like tbat 
of the Dutch at the present day. In the Dutch character 
wehave a condensation of all that appertains to the Saxon. 
It is a nobler one than we generally allow it to be. 
They are phlegmatic, but they keep out of trouble. We 
hear little of what is doing in Holland, yet we are daily 
receiving proofs of their industry and thrift. They 
never go to war for an idea, but they can fight bravely — 
as we know to our cost as a nation — when put to it. 
The Xorman Conquest parted us from them, and by 
looking at them and their character we can understand 
what kind of people we might have been, and the precise 
effect that the Norman blood had in the moulding of 
the type of our nationality. 

A steady-going, business-loving, adventure- seeking 
people were not, therefore, likely to produce much in the 
way of imaginative writing, and this is the reason why 
there is so little Anglo-Saxon poetry, in the true sense of 



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5 



the word, and so little original invention displayed in what 
has been preserved to ns. In the greatest and longest 
Saxon poem there are only five similes. 

Among the oldest specimens of British poetry may 
be mentioned some scraps of Irish verse, which are 
ascribed to the fifth century, and the " Psalter of Cashel," 
which is the oldest existing manuscript of Irish litera- 
ture, and is a collection of the metrical legends which 
had been for ages sung by the bards. It seems to have 
been compiled by a personage who combined the offices 
of Bishop of Cashel and King of Munster. The poems 
of Taliesin and Merlin, with those of other Welsh 
bards and prophets, date from about the sixth century. 
The Welsh Triads, which are sets of proverbs and events 
arranged in threes, are scarcely older than the thirteenth 
century. 

A considerable quantity of Anglo-Saxon poetry has 
been handed down to us ; the larger portion of it 
dating from a period subsequent to the introduction of 
Christianity. Like the British poetry, it is devoted to 
the praise of warriors and their deeds. 

ANGLO-SAXON WRITINGS. 

Of the Saxon verse that has come down to us, the 
chief pieces are the "Romance of Beowulf," and 
" Caedmon's Paraphrase." 

"Beowulf" is a poem of 6,000 lines, and has for 
its hero a Danish soldier who braves many dangers 
and goes through many adventures both on land and 
water. He afterwards slays a monster named Grendel ; 
but in an attack upon an enormous dragon, is himself 
slain. All this is described with much minuteness, and 
affords a tolerable idea of the customs and beliefs of 
the time in which it was written, when no story was 
considered complete without some such fable as above, 
and every hero, to lay claim to the title, was required 
to perform some prodigy of valour, or attack and slay a 
monster or dragon. Many beautiful metaphors occur 
in "Beowulf," and from them may be picked out one 



6 



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which, is a charming example of their simplicity. 
Speaking of the warriors who are slain in battle, it is 
said of them that " They lay aloft, put to sleep with 
their swords." Although metaphors are common, yet of 
similes there is a great scarcity — only five are found in 
the whole of this long poem. The date at which the 
poem was written is supposed to be much older 
than that of the manuscript which we possess. 
Unfortunately, it was greatly injured in the fire at the 
Cotton Library in 1731, and a considerable portion of 
it is unintelligible ; there seems to be but little doubt, 
however, that the original poem was composed among 
the continental Angles, and brought into England about 
the end of the fifth century, and that the earliest Saxon 
form of the work dates only from the seventh century. 
There are many allusions and phrases throughout the 
work which prove that the writer must have been a 
Christian. 

" Caedmon's Paraphrase." Caedmon was originally 
a cowherd, near Whitby, in ISTorthunibria, and the 
story of his inspiration is as follows :— It was the 
custom in those days for each to sing in turn, as 
the harp was pushed round the hall at supper. This 
Caedmon could never do ; and when he saw his turn 
coming, he used to slip out of the room, blushing for 
want of skill and eager to hide his shame. One night, 
having left the hall, he lay down to sleep in the stable ; 
and as he slept he dreamed that a stranger came to 
him and said, "Caedmon, sing me something." "I 
know nothing to sing," said the poor herd, "and so I 
had to slink away out of the hall." " Nay," said the 
stranger, " but thou hast something to sing." " What 
must I sing ? " " Sing the Creation," replied the 
stranger; upon which words of sweet music began to 
flow from the lips that had been sealed so long. Caed- 
mon awoke, knew the words he had been reciting, and 
felt a new-born power in his breast. The mantle of 
song had fallen on him ; and when, next day, before the 
Abbess Hilda and some of the scholars of the place, he 



English Literature, 



7 



told what had occurred, they gave Mm a passage ot 
the Bible, which he was to turn into poetry, in order to 
test his proclaimed skill. A few hours afterwards he 
presented them with a long poem of surpassing sweet- 
ness and power, and from that time forward the 
cowherd monk of Whitby devoted his life to the 
composition of religions poetry. It is supposed that 
Caedmon died about 680. Some have averred that 
there were two priests of the same name, the elder of 
whom composed the lines on the " Creation," and that the 
younger was the author of the " Paraphrase." Bede 
thus sums up the works of Caedmon : — " He sang of 
the creation of the world aud the origin of the human 
race, and the whole history as found in Genesis, con- 
cerning the going forth 'of Israel out of Egypt and 
their entrance into the land of promise ; of very many 
other narratives in Holy Scripture, of the Incarnation of 
our Lord, His Passion, Besurrection and Ascension 
into heaven; of the descent of the Holy Ghost, and 
the teaching of the Apostles. He also composed many 
verses concerning the terror of the judgment to come, 
and the fearfulness of the punishments of hell, and the 
sweetness of the heavenly kingdom ; besides a great 
many others on the loving-kindnesses and judgments 
of God." 

"The Battle of Finsborough," "The Traveller's 
Song," full of geographical definitions and names, and 
a fragment of a poem called " Judith," are the other 
principal works that have come down to us. The latter 
is found in the same manuscript volume that contains 
" Beowulf," and has been described as " an Anglo-Saxon 
romance," if the term may be used to anything in 
Anglo-Saxon literature, "since, while the outline of 
the story is taken from Jewish history, the tone, the 
descriptions, and many of the incidents present the 
broadest local colouring, and breathe the full Teutonic 
spirit." The opening of the poem is wanting, and the 
exact date of its authorship has not been ascertained. 
It most likely, however, belongs to the seventh century, 



Handbook of 



the time when a great literary stir took place in 
Wessex. 

In the " Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" several poems of 
great vigour are to be found. The best are the " Brunan- 
burgh War Song ; or, Athelstan's Song of Victory, " 
and the " Elegy on King Edgar the First." 

The first — the " Waterloo Ode " of the ninth century 
— is a triumphal chant occasioned by the great victory 
won by Athelstan over the Danes from Ireland under 
Anlaf, and the Scots under their king Constantine, at 
Br unanburgh . 

A short portion of it translated reads thus: — "Nor 
was there ever yet a greater slaughter of people 
brought about in this island before this with the edge 
of the sword, according to that which old sages tell 
us by book, since Angles and Saxons came up hither 
from the east, sought Britain over the broad main, as 
proud artificers of war overcame the alien race [Welsh], 
got possession — the earls keen after glory ! — of the 
land." 

The " Elegy on King Edgar "is a specimen of rather 
a later period, when the Saxon literature was on the 
decline. It is " short, yet diffuse — meagre, but obscure," 
and though many of the old, homely, vivid metaphors 
of the old gleemen are retained, there is a lack of fire 
and vividness. 

In 1166 there was a song current about the rowing 
of Canute past Ely. " Pleasantly sang the monks of 
Ely" is the commencement of it; and William of 
Malmesbury also mentions a song by Aldred, the last 
Saxon archbishop of York, who encroached somewhat 
on the land belonging to the Church. St. Goderich, 
born at Walpole, in Norfolk, and who died in 1170, 
chanted a hymn in rhyme, which he said was told him 
by the Virgin. He also wrote a few other poems. 

NORMAN WRITERS. 

If the Norman Conquest was the cause of a great 
change in the manner and character of the prose 



English Literature. 



9 



literature, it had none the less effect upon poetry. It 
introduced into England the Norman romance. The 
French poetry of the age was divided into two divisions 
or schools, the Norman and the Provencal. The poets 
of the one were called Trouveres, and those of the 
other Troubadours. The language of the Trouveres 
was called the Langue d'Oyl, and that of the Trouba- 
dours the Langue d'Oc. They were two separate 
dialects, and were thus distinguished by the difference 
in their pronunciation of the peculiar words used for 
our yes. 

These two dialects presented a considerable difference, 
none the less so than did their poetry : the Trouvere 
poetry was essentially epic, as suited the Franco- Ger- 
manic character, which occupied the north of France, 
while the Troubadours delighted in lyrical effusions. 

The language of oc, spoken in the south of France, 
" blazed out a brief day of glory, was then trampled 
down, with all its lovely garlands of song, by Montfort 
and his crusaders, and now exists merely as the rude 
patois of the province that bears its name." The 
Provencal literature had its origin in the peaceful inter- 
course which took place between the Moors and 
Spanish Christians during the ninth and tenth cen- 
turies, by which the latter became acquainted with and 
learnt to imitate the Arabiac poetry and prose. 

The Arabs possess a keener sense of poetry, their 
brains are more deeply and closely convoluted, and 
their internal organs of sense are finer than those of 
mixed races. They have produced more poets than 
any other nation. They are brilliant bat not solid, and 
they were affected but little by the learning of Greece 
and Italy. They could not understand the classical 
writers ; they thought Pindar and Euripides cold, and 
their greatest philosopher read Aristotle's "Metaphysics ' ' 
forty times before he understood it. As poets, there- 
fore, they were essentially superficial. They had no 
dramatic or epical poetry, only lyrical. They were 
fond of the study of nature, and laid the foundation of 



10 



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many a modern science, though it was the mystical 
they sought to find out. They were spare livers, 
tellers of tales and singers of songs. In mere 
matter of rhyme they excelled greatly. They 
delighted in the most intricate : three or four rhymes 
in a line is a common occurrence in their poetry. 
Their influence throughout Italy and the south of 
Europe was immense, and imparted to it a luxuriance 
and ingeniousness which marks it most distinctly. The 
whole south of France was, therefore, — by the inter- 
course which has been referred to above — affected by 
them, and throughout Provence was diffused a taste for 
rhyme and superficial love poetry. 

The character of the poetry of "those children of 
the burning south," distinguished by an excessive 
admiration and idolization of the female sex, and the 
greatest possible ingenuity in inventing and " imagining 
every condition of the passion of love," was to a large 
extent that of the Catalam minstrelsy, which took up the 
strain, carried it into the south of France, and gave 
rise to the Troubadour poetry. Love is its principal 
though not its only inspiration. Certain historical 
subjects, that required but little trouble and learning, 
were sometimes chosen for themes. The realities of 
every- day life were, however, neglected, and imaginary 
events and characters supply the place. This very fact, 
in such an age, was, perhaps, the secret of its dissolu- 
tion. The unimaginative minstrel, who could sing only 
of the Court of Love, and could imagine no greater 
delight than the successful prosecution of a suit, found 
but little response to his songs amid the fighting and 
mourning of the south of France during the thirteenth 
century, and so it gradually faded out. Some attempt 
was made to revive it, but without success. In its flou- 
rishing time the " gay science," as it was called, "was 
eagerly cultivated in every part of Western Europe, 
and kings were proud to rank themselves among its 
members. Our own Richard Cceur de Lion not only 
entertained at his court some of the most celebrated 



English Literature. 



! Troubadours of Provence, but himself composed seve- 
! ral sirventes which are still extant. A tenson, the joint 

composition of himself and his favourite minstrel, 
| Blondel, is said, according to the well-known story in 

Matthew Paris, to have been the means of Blondel's 

discovering the place of the king's confinement in 

Germany. 

" Almost the whole of the poetry of the Troubadours 
falls under two heads : the tenson and the sirvente. 
, The former was a kind of literary duel, or dialogue 
j controversial, between two rival Troubadours, on some 
| knotty point of amatory ethics, and often took place 
before, and was decided by, a Court of Love. The latter 
j was employed on themes of war, or politics, or 
satire.' ' 

The Normans, who spoke the language of oyl, were 
not satisfied with the love stories of the south. They 
adopted all the romances and tales, and made the 
southern poetry more narrative ; and, by this means, the 
more beautiful of the Eastern stories and poems found 
their way into Christendom, where they were adopted 
and clothed in a fresh garment, and through the Trou- 
badours to the Trouveres and Jongleurs, who sang them 
in England around the Norman hearths. 

The Langue d'Oyl has grown into modern French, and 
exercised an influence upon our literature in more ways 
than one. The Norman soldiers delighted in the old 
lays of the Trouveres, who sang of knights and their 
deeds of valour. When, therefore, they settled down in 
England, nothing was more natural than that they 
should give rise to a "new generation of poets, who 
should learn in the Normanized island to sing in the 
Norman tongue." 

The poetry of the Trouveres had therefore a far more 
important and lasting influence upon English literature 
than did that of the Troubadours. 

The "Romance Literature," as it is called, embraces 
three great cycles : the Danish being the first and 
oldest, Charlemagne the second, and the Arthurian, 



12 



Handbook of 



devoted to Arthur and his Round Table. Two others 
may be mentioned which embrace the Crusades and 
their efforts to recover the Holy Sepulchre, and the 
Alexandrian, or the romances of the ancient world and 
its heroes. 

The first story in the Danish cycle is that of Haveloc 
the Dane, which was current in England at the Con- 
quest. The scene is laid in Great Grimsby, where there 
is a Haveloc street and a Haveloc stone. The arms of 
the town are also a giant or big man, with a little prince 
under one arm and a princess under the other, with the 
words " Haveloc and Grolclebura " written underneath. 

The " Chanson de Roland," or narrative of the death of 
Roland in battle, is the oldest of the romances of the 
Charlemagne period, other celebrated pieces being the 
" Four Sons of Agnion," " Roland and Ferrabras," and 
" Ogier le Danois." The Arthurian romances are all 
founded upon the national and patriotic songs of Wales 
and Brittany. Arthur and his Knights of the Round 
Table are the principal heroes, around whom a "beautiful 
tissue of romantic poetry was woven by the Welsh bards." 
Of the other romances, the most important is the romance 
of Richard Cceur de Lion, supposed to have been written 
in French, but whether the French original is in exist- 
ence is not known ; but an English version, which dates 
about the reign of Edward I., possesses great interest. 
The English romance abounds in a variety of wonderful 
details, which it is supposed were not in the original, 
but added by the various Norman minstrels. A poem 
called the " Alexandreis," published in 1184, met with 
such a success that the metre in which it was composed, 
a twelve- syllable rhyming couplet, has since been known 
as the "Alexandrine." 

The Norman period gave birth to a series of chronicles 
in verse for the benefit of the laity, who were unable to 
understand the Latin Chronicles which circulated from 
monastery to monastery, for the use of the clergy only. 
These chronicles were written in verse because but few 
could read, and the rhyme and jingle of the verses helped 



English Literature. 



13 



the memory of both the reader and his audience. 
Among the best of the Norm an- French poets is — 

Wace, or, as he calls himself, " Maitre " Wace. He was 
born at Jersey, probably in 1112, and educated at Caen, 
in Normandy, where he spent nearly all his life. He was 
a learned man, a clerk, and was made canon of Bayeux 
on the recommendation of Henry II. He is supposed 
to have died in England somewhere between the years 
1175 and 1185. His chief poems are "Brut de Angle- 
terre," and "Roman de Rou." 

Walter Map, born on the Welsh borders, was educated 
at Paris, and in 1173, when he was about thirty years of 
age, he was appointed a Justice in Eyre. In 1196 he 
was archdeacon of Oxford. Map is by far the greatest 
writer before Chaucer. Before his time the romance 
poetry had become somewhat conventional ; each began 
with the singing of birds in the month of April or May, 
and there was but very little life in it. Map, however, 
in four romances that he wrote, introduced fresh ideas. 
Though he wrote in Latin, his works were very popular. 
His poems are written under the name of Bishop 
Golias, who is at the same time a representative and 
satirist of clerical vice and irregularity. Most persons 
were deceived, and thought that Golias was a real per- 
sonage, and Map obtained the title of the jovial arch- 
deacon. 

Josephus Iscanus, a monk of Exeter, wrote a long 
poem in Latin hexameters, entitled "DeBello Trojano," 
which seems to have possessed great literary merit. 
" Though now forgotten, it enjoyed so great a popu- 
larity, even as late as the fifteenth century, as to be 
thumbed by schoolboys in every grammar-school, and 
ranked by teachers side by side with the genuine poets 
of Rome." 

The "Ormulum," written by one Orme, a quiet 
country priest, versifies the Gospels, and adds a few 
homilies. He wrote with the object of bringing the 
Scriptures down to the simplest understanding. The 
tone is very devout throughout. 



14 



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Layamon, in imitation of Wace and the other rhy ming 
chroniclers, produced a poetical history, founded upon 
the " Brut d'Angleterre." He was a monk of Ernie y- 
upon- Severn, in Worcestershire, and his work extends 
to about 16,000 long lines of four accents. Both the 
alliteration and the rhyme is of the commonest de- 
scription, and both are often failures. The language is 
extremely Saxon, not more than fifty words of Norman 
being found in the whole book. 

Robert of Gloucester, who is separated by nearly a 
hundred years from Layamon, follows the same plan 
and goes oyer the same ground. He is, however, essen- 
tially different from Layamon, in the fact that he is, 
when divested of his strange spelling, a much more 
readable author. 

" A monk of a great monastery in an important 
frontier city, his style is that of a man who is fully up 
to the level of the civilization, and familiar with the 
literature of his age, while Layamon' s bespeaks the 
simple parish priest, moving among a rustic population, 
whose barbarous dialect he with a meritorious audacity 
adapts as best he can to literary purposes." Robert 
Mannyng, a monk of Boarne, or Brunne, in Lincolnshire, 
composed a rhyming chronicle in two parts. Thomas 
the Rhymer, a Scotch romance poet, wrote " Sir Tris- 
tram," in writing which he seems to have received 
some assistance from an unknown man, named Kendal. 
This romance was hardly known till Sir Walter Scott 
published it. A number of poems, on religious, devo- 
tional, and didactic topics, have come down to us from 
the twelfth and the beginning of the thirteenth centuries. 
Of these Bishop Grossette's " Manual des Peches," trans- 
lated by Mannyng, may be mentioned with two short 
poems, entitled "The Crucifixion," and the " Blessed 
Virgin under the Rood." 

Robert Lan gland, a fellow of Oriel College, and a 
secular priest, was the author of an allegorical poem, 
entitled the " Vision of Piers the Ploughman." Its 
date has been determined, by incidental allusions, to be 



English Literature. 



15 



about the year 1362. It is the description of a vision 
seen in a dream, and extends to about 14,000 short lines, 
It is a specimen of didactic teaching, and satirizes the 
abuses of the age in religion and other professions. 
The vices and immoralities of the ecclesiastics receive 
the chief attention. 

"A crowd of allegorical personages, representing 
different types of human character, after being brought 
to repentance by the preaching of Reason, earnestly 
desire to find out the way to the abode of Truth ; their 
authorized spiritual guides do not know the road; — - 
and it is ' Piers the Ploughman ' from whom they at 
last obtain the guidance which they require. The metre 
is alliterative, like that of the old Saxon poets. The 
writer seems to address himself to a class socially 
inferior to that which Chaucer and Grower sought to 
please, — a class, therefore, almost purely Saxon, and 
likely to receive with pleasure a work composed in the 
old rhythm dear to their forefathers." 

The a Vision of Piers the Ploughman " was the star 
which heralded the brighter sun of Chaucer, and the 
dawn of that poetic excellence which commenced with 
him. From that time English poetry was not simply imi- 
tation or translation, but a distinct and brilliant creation, 
which ranked, without unfavourable comparison, with 
the best poetic literature of other countries that had 
long had the start. 

" The first examples of the Metrical Romance," says 
Dr. Craik, "were translations from the French. If any 
such were produced so early'as before the close of the 
twelfth century (of which we have no evidence), they 
were probably designed for the entertainment of the 
mere commonalty, to whom alone the French language 
was unknown. In the thirteenth century were com- 
posed the earliest of those we now possess in their 
original form. In the fourteenth century the English 
took the place of the French metrical romance in all 
classes. This was its brightest era. In the fifteenth 
it was supplanted by another species .of poetry, 



16 



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among the more educated classes, and had also to 
contend with another rival in the prose romance ; 
but, nevertheless, it still continued to be prodnced, 
although in less quantity and of an inferior fabric. It 
did not altogether cease to be read and written until 
after the commencement of the sixteenth century. 
From that time the taste for this earliest form of our 
poetical literature lay asleep, until after the lapse of 
300 years, it was reawakened in this century by Scott." 



English Literature. 



17 



FIRST PERIOD. 



FROM CHAUCER TO THE MIDDLE OF THE SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY. 



English poetic literature may be divided, like the 
prose literature, into the same periods — 

1st, From Chaucer to the middle of the sixteenth 
century. 

2nd. From the introduction of the art of printing 

to the middle of the seventeenth century. 
3rd. That of the Puritans. 

4th. The period of the French influence, which 

commenced with Dryden. 
5th. The modern popular influence, which in 
poetry commenced with Pope. 
Chaucer was practically of the same age as Mande- 
ville. The latter has been styled the father of English 
prose, and the former the " father," the " morning star " 
of English poetry. With them commenced the stream 
of literature, which now, like a great river, has flooded 
whole continents, and has made itself a name and a 
power. The student of early English poetry must not 
forget that the influence, the impetus, came from abroad, 
though the matter and the manner of it is entirely home- 
bred. 

Dante and Petrarch had already kindled a bright 
flame, and it was at their altar that Chaucer lit his 
torch. This will account for much that might otherwise 
be obscure, and explains how both Chaucer and his 
successor, Gower, came to treat English subjects in a 



18 



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foreign manner. Foreign influence also ruled the 
Church and Court, and though in the order of events 
poetry is older than prose, yet prose was the soonest 
adapted to the vernacular ; neither Chaucer nor those who 
followed him wrote for the people. Poetry was sup- 
posed to be exclusively the language of the Court, and 
it was not for a long time that it descended to become 
the vehicle of communication to the people. 



JOHN BARBOUR, 
1330-1396, 

Was born in Aberdeen, and supposed to have studied 
at the University of Oxford, which he twice visited 
under the safe conduct of Edward III., accompanied 
by three scholars whose studies it is conjectured he 
went to superintend. Some years afterwards he appears 
to have visited St. Denis, near Paris, in company with 
six knights, his attendants. The object of their expedition 
is supposed to have been of a religious kind, for the 
king granted them permission "to pass through his 
dominions on their way to St. Denis and other sacred 
places" In 1357 he was made Archdeacon of Aberdeen. 
In 1379 his name appears in the list of auditors of the 
Scottish Exchequer, which office he again held in the 
years 1382 and 1384. Such are all the meagre facts 
that are known of the life of Barbour. 

THE BRUCE, OR THE HISTORY OF ROBERT I., KING OF SCOTLAND. 

This poem narrates those events connected with the 
war of independence, in which the heroic king is the 
central figure, and it has the merit of combining his- 
torical fidelity with the animation and poetical colour- 
ing of the romance. The style of Barbour is simple 
and vigorous, his versification easy, and his descriptions 
of individual character distinct and discriminating. 

It has been conjectured that he was also the composer 



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19 



of a work called " Tlie Genealogy of King Brut " (or 
the Brute), founded on the great Middle Age fable 
which connected the royal races of Britain with an 
imaginary Brutus, a Prince of Troy. 



GEOFFREY CHAUCER. 
1328-1400. 

The accounts of the early life of Geoffrey Chaucer 
are somewhat uncertain. From a statement of his 
own, he is supposed to haye been born in London, and 
though there is no direct proof of his having been at 
either Oxford or Cambridge, it is presumed, from a 
reference to himself in one of his earlier works, as 
" Philogenet of Cambridge," that he was educated at 
the latter. It is also said that he studied law at the 
Inner Temple, on the strength of an entry in an old 
register of the Inns of Court, in which one " Geoffrey 
Chaucer was fined two shillings for beating a friar in 
Fleet Street." By the favour of John of Ghent he 
obtained the patronage of Edward III. Going with 
the army to France in 1359, he was taken prisoner at 
the siege of Reiters. On his release he was rewarded 
by many marks of royal favour, and would have con- 
tinued to receive them, but that in Richard's reign he 
could not avoid taking part against the king, in the 
dispute between Richard and Lancaster. Forced to 
flee to the continent, and afterwards sent to the Tower, 
he continued in great trouble till Lancaster was again 
in the ascendant, when an equivalent to a few of his lost 
pensions was given him, and he was made " Clerk of 
the Works at Westminster." In 1391 he retired to 
Woodstock, where he wrote " The Canterbury Tales." 
He died at Westminster, and was buried in the 
Abbey. 

CANTERBURY TALES. 
COURT OF LOVE. 
TROILUS AND CRESEIDE, 

c 2 



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ROMAUNT OF THE ROSE. 
HOUSE OF FAME. 
LEGENDE OF GO ODE WOMEN. 
THE FLOUR AND THE LEFE. 
TESTAMENT OF LOVE. 

Chaucer's fame rests principally upon " The Canter- 
bury Tales," which are a series of humorous and 
pathetic stories, related by a company of persons who 
set out from The Tabard inn, Southwark, on a re- 
ligious pilgrimage to Canterbury. The general idea of 
the work was undoubtedly taken from the " Decameron' 1 
of Boccaccio, which consists of a hundred tales, 
narrated, like those of Chaucer, by a company as- 
sembled by accident. A full account of the journey is 
given, with a minute descriptive sketch of each of the 
company. These sketches display great talent in the 
distinct characteristics given to each person, and the 
vivid manner in which they are set before the reader. 
The tales are partly humorous stories of humble life, 
partly romantic tales of chivalry, and only a few of 
them are supposed to have been altogether the inven- 
tion of the poet. 

Chaucer's minor works are either in part or altogether 
translated from the French, Italian, and Latin. The 
" Court of Love," and the heavy tragic poem in five 
books, called " Troilus and Creseide," were the work of 
his college days. The " Romaunt of the Rose "is an 
allegory, in which the troubled course of true love is 
painted in rich descriptive verse. The " House of 
Fame " depicts a dream, in which the poet is borne by 
a huge eagle to a temple of beryl, built on a rock of 
ice, where he sees the Goddess of Fame dispensing her 
favours from a carbuncle throne. The " Legende of 
Goode Women " narrates some passages in the lives of 
Cleopatra, Dido, Ariadne, and other dames of old classic 
renown. It was written to make amends for the many 
disparaging reflections which Chaucer had cast in 
former works on woman's truth and constancy in love. 



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21 



LAUEENCE MINOT. 
This author flourished in the reign of Edward III., 
and has been said to be the earliest writer of English 
verse who deserves the name of a poet. 

HALIDON. 
NEVIL'S CROSS. 

THE SIEGES OF T0URNAY AND CALAIS. 
THE TAKING OF GUISNES. 
SIX OTHER POEMS. 

All these are descriptive of the martial achievements 
of the reign, written at the time when they occurred 
and under the inspiration they caused. They have a fine 
warlike ring about them, and are polished in style 
■ — more so than the verses of any other ballad writer. 



JOHN GOWER. 
1325-1408. 

John Gower is supposed to have studied at Merton 
College, Oxford, and to have been a lawyer by profession, 
and a well-educated and well-to-do man. He w r as con- 
temporary with Chaucer, with whom he was very 
intimate, and by whom he was called the " Moral 
Gower." Yery little that can be relied upon is known 
of his personal history ; some believe that John Gower, 
the poet, and Sir John Gower, Judge of the Common 
Pleas, are the same person ; but there is no evidence to 
prove this. He was blind during the last nine years 
of his life. At his death he left a good deal of money 
for prayers, and from his bequests and the love of his 
writings he seems to have been a pious wealthy man. 
He is buried at St. Saviour's, Southwark, which he 
helped to rebuild. 

SPECULUM MEDITANTIS. 
VOX CLAMANTIS. 
CONFESSIO AMANTIS. 
BALLADS. 



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The " Speculum Meditantis," in ten books, was written 
in French, but has been unfortunately lost. The sub- 
ject is the chastity of the marriage vow. The " Yox 
Clamantis," in Latin, arose out of the Wat Tyler 
Rebellion, and is an effort at dealing with the wrongs 
of his time. It begins with an allegorical dream, and 
then proceeds to discuss the various questions which 
were agitating men's minds, and shows the causes 
which led to the events in Richard the Third's reign. It 
is in seven books of Elegiacs. 

The third and fourth books of the " Vox Clamantis " 
sets plainly forth the state of the clergy, against 
whom all good men were righteously indignant. The 
discussion begins first with the prelates, speaking 
against their practices, and hinting at antichrist. 
Then the fox-hunting clergy, wicked rectors, and 
the large number of stipendiary clergy without 
cures, are held up to scorn and ridicule ; and 
finally, in the fourth book, he raises a cry against the 
cloistered monks and nuns, and the mendicant friars 
that infested the land. 

The fifth book discusses the soldier, and says of 
bravery, " that if it comes from love to women, or vain- 
glory, it is bad." It then describes the ideal, honourable 
soldier, and draws a picture of the bad soldier, who 
becomes little better than a robber. The tradesmen, 
merchants, and peasants are then described, and from 
the picture drawn, the former seem to have been shock- 
ing cheats and extortioners. In the sixth book the 
misconduct of the lawyers is described. Gower calls 
them great rascals, judges and counsel alike receiving 
bribes to expedite the givers' suits. In conclusion, the 
king is advised how to live and conduct himself, and is 
especially warned against gluttony, to which Richard 
was somewhat inclined, and incited to follow his father. 
In the seventh and last book the dream of Nebuchad- 
nezzar is applied to the vices of the time, and some 
moral reflections are drawn. The whole poem is very 
valuable as a graphic sketch of the times in which the 



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23 



author lived, and as giving us an insight into his own 
character. 

The " Confessio Amantis " is the work on which 
his reputation as an English poet rests. The plot, 
which is rather odd, is as follows. A lover holds 
a dialogue with his confessor Genius, who is a priest 
of Venus. The priest, before he will grant absolu- 
tion, probes the heart of his penitent to the core, 
trying all its weak points. He plies him with moral 
tales in illustration of his teaching, and gives him 
lessons in chemistry and the philosophy of Aristotle. 
After all, when the hero seems to be so arrayed in a 
panoply of purity and learning as to render his victory 
a certain thing, he suddenly finds that he is too old to 
care for the triumph suffered for and wished for so 
long. 

The tales told by the priests are drawn chiefly from 
the Bible, the Ovid romances, and the " Gesta Roma- 
norum." There is a prologue to the poem, which is in 
itself a short "Vox Clamantis." 

Gower's Ballads were thoroughly Italian in their 
style and language. 

Though Gower wrote against the vices of the day, he 
had little sympathy with the attempts made by the 
lower orders to obtain power by violent means. He 
was a churchman, but with a deep belief in the truth 
and holiness of religion. He deplored the excesses of 
the clergy, and the abuses of the Church. Gower's 
Latin verse is decidedly more pleasant than his English 
verse, which is wanting in elegance. The Latin poems 
are also more practical in their character. 

The friendship which existed between him and 
Chaucer seems to have been clouded during the latter 
portion of their life. 



BLIND HARRY. 
Of this poet nothing is known, saving that he was 
born blind, that he wrote the poem for which he 



24 



Handbook of 



is celebrated, and that he made a living by reciting it 
before company. 

THE ADVENTURES OF SIR WILLIAM WALLACE. 

This poem is founded on the traditionary stories told 
respecting Wallace, and abounds in marvellous stories 
respecting the prowess of its hero, and in one or two 
nlaces grossly outrages real history. 



ARCHER WYNTOUN. 
1350-1430. 

A canon regular of St. Andrews, and prior of the 
monastery of St. Serf's Inch, in Lochleven, a house 
under the rule of the great priory of St. Andrews. 
He claims a place in our catalogue of English poets 
in consequence of having written in tolerable eight- 
syllable verse, and in very pure language, a poem, at the 
request of Sir John Wemyss. 

ORYGYNAL CHRONYKILL OF SCOTLAND FROM CREATION OF 
THE WORLD TO THE YEAR 1408. 

Notwithstanding its great value, both as almost the 
oldest Scottish MS. extant, and as the first record of 
the national history, it remained neglected for nearly 
four centuries. In 1795, however, a splendid edition of 
that part which relates more immediately to Scotland 
was published with notes. 

The introductory portion of this famous " Chronykill " 
is after the manner of all the old chroniclers and his- 
torians : the author treats of the creation of angels, 
etc., and of the general history of the world, before he 
comes to that which more concerns the subject of his 
work. It is a clear trustworthy historical record, divided 
into nine books, and written in eight- syllabled rhymes. 

As regards Wyntoun's talents as a poet, though his 
works in general have little or nothing of the nature of 



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25 



poetry, yet lie now and then throws in some touches of 
true poetic description. His versification is easy, his 
language pure, and his style often animated ; and as a 
historian he is highly valuable, when allowance is made 
for the fabulous legends interwoven with the facts. 



THOMAS OCCLEVE. 
Born about 1370. 

A lawyer by profession, who held a government ap- 
pointment at the Privy Seal Office. He was a Wycliffite, 
but seems to have led a somewhat dissipated life. He 
petitioned the king for money, which does not seem to 
have been sent to him. 

BALLADS. 

PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN. 
BIOGRAPHIES. 

Occl eve's verse is not of the highest order. The 
Ballads are cheerful and lively, but that is all that can 
be said of them. His chief poem is founded on a Latin 
work, "De Regimine Principum." 



JAMES THE FIRST OF SCOTLAND. 
1394-1437. 

The romantic life of this royal poet is well known to 
all students of history. He was the son of Robert the 
Third, who sent him secretly to France to be away 
from his enemies, who had just murdered his other 
son, Rothesay. 

The ship, however, was seized off the coast of Nor- 
folk, and the prince, but eleven years of age, carried 
a prisoner to the English court, where he was kept 
twenty-one years. His father died broken-hearted for 
the loss of his darling child. While a prisoner, he lived 
chiefly at Windsor Castle, and received a befitting 



26 



Handbook of 



education, and proved himself to be an expert not only 
in every sport and pastime, but in learning, in music, 
and the making of poetry. Looking out from the 
window of the Round Tower one May morning, he saw 
walking below in the garden the lovely daughter of the 
Duke of Somerset, with whom he immediately fell in 
love, and afterwards married. On his obtaining the 
throne he ruled too well and too justly for the times, 
which raised enmity in the hearts of intriguers and bad 
men.. He was therefore stabbed to death in the monastery 
of the Dominicans at Perth, early in the year 1437. 
The murderers, chief among them Sir Robert Graham, 
burst late at night into his private room, found him 
where he had hidden, in a vault below the flooring, and 
after a fearful struggle cut him almost to pieces with 
their swords and knives. 

KING'S QUHAIR. 

CHRISTIS KIRK ON THE GRENE. 
PEBLIS TO THE PLAT. 

The first of these works was due to the inspiration 
of his speedily kindled love while a prisoner, the 
most admired portion being that in which he describes 
the first glimpse of the lady as she walked in the gar- 
den. The title of it is the " King's Quhair," or Quire 
or Book. It is written hi one hundred and ninety- seven 
stanzas, of seven lines each, in the most polished style, 
and contains many passages of his life. 

The " Christis Kirk on the Grene " is written in the 
Aberdeenshire dialect, and " Peblis to the Play " in that 
of Tweeddale. Through both runs a vein of broad 
comic humour. They describe certain old customs and 
Scottish merry-makings. 



JOHN L YD GATE. 
1375-1401. 

Monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds, 
in Suffolk. Little of his life is known. He was 



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27 



I ordained a subdeacon in 1389, a deacon in 1393, and a 
priest in 1397. 

After a short term of study at Oxford he travelled 
into France and Italy, and returned a complete master 
of the literature and language of both countries. He 
opened in his monastery a school for teaching the sons 
of the nobility versification and composition. Lydgate 
received a pension for life from King Henry VI., for 
presenting to that monarch, when he visited St. Ed- 
mundsbury, a manuscript life of St. Edmund, the patron 
saint of the monastery. 

STORY OF THEBES. 
FALL OF PRINCES. 
HISTORY OF TROY. 
DANCE OF DEATH. 

The first is the story of the tragical destruction of 
the city of Thebes. The " Fall of Princes " is a poem 
consisting of nine books, and is an account of the 
tragedies of all the princes who fell from their estates 
by the mutability of fortune, and is a translation from 
Boccaccio, or rather from a French paraphrase of his 
work. The " History of Troy" was considered the 
most popular of his works, and is professedly a trans- 
lation or paraphrase of Guido de Colonna's romance, 
entitled " Historia Trojana." The " Dance of Death" 
was founded on a sort of spiritual masquerade, anciently 
celebrated in churches. ~No poet seems to have possessed 
a greater versatility of talents. He moves with equal 
ease in every style of composition. His hymns and his 
ballads have the same degree of merit, and whether 
his theme be the life of saint, hero, or hermit, ludicrous 
or romantic, historical or allegorical, he writes with 
facility. His transitions were rapid, from works of 
the most serious kind to sallies of levity and pieces of 
popular entertainment. 



28 



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ROBERT HENRYSON. 
1425-1508. 

Of his parentage and early history no certain in- 
formation can be discovered, except that he was a 
schoolmaster at Dunfermline, and acted as notary- 
public. 

TESTAMENT OF CRESSEID. 

THE FABLES OF JESOP. 

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

TALE OF ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. 

The first of these works, usually considered his chief 
performance, professes to be a continuation of Chaucer's 
tale of " Troilus and Creseide," and in it is abundance 
of incident, of imagery, and of painting, without 
tediousness. One of his fables is the well-known story 
of the " Town Mouse and Country Mouse," which he 
treats with much humour and characteristic description. 
In his minor poems there is great beauty in the ver- 
sification, and much delicacy in the expression. In 
strength, and sometimes even in sublimity of painting, 
in pathos and sweetness, in the variety and beauty of 
his pictures, in the vein of quiet and playful humour 
which runs through many of his pieces, and withal 
fine natural taste, he is altogether excellent. He is 
remarkable for an easy flowing style, and in his vivid 
perception of the beauties of nature he is surpassed by 
none of our older poets. 



WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
1460-1520. 

Born in East Lothian, and allied closely to the noble 
house of March. In 1475 he went to St. Andrews, 
where in 1477 he took the degree of B.A., and in 1479 
that of M. A. Not much is known of his career for the 
first twenty years after he left the university. From 
his own writings we learn that he entered the order 



English Literature. 



29 



of St. Francis, and was employed for some time as an 
itinerant or preaching friar, travelling and begging in 
both England and France. He appears to have entered 
the king's service, and to have been retained as " clerk " 
or secretary to some of King James's numerous em- 
bassies to foreign courts. In 1500 he obtained from 
the king a yearly pension of £10, rising at last to £80, 
after which time he seems to have lived chiefly about 
court, writing poems, and sustaining himself with hope 
of preferment in the Church. In 1504 he received a 
gift for saying mass for the first time in the royal 
presence. He is supposed to have visited the northern 
parts of Scotland in 1511, in the train of Queen Mar- 
garet. After the ruinous defeat at Flodden, and the 
confusion consequent on the king's death and a pro* 
longed regency, Dunbar's name disappears altogether. 

THISTLE AND THE ROSE. 

THE DANCE OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS. 

THE GOLDEN TERGE. 

THE MERLE AND NIGHTINGALE. 

The " Thistle and the Rose " is his most famous 
poem, and was written in honour of the king's marriage ; 
but perhaps the most remarkable is the " Dance," 
which describes a procession of the seven deadly sins, 
led by pride, in the infernal regions ; and for strength 
and vividness of painting may stand a comparison with 
any poem in the language. Each sin is represented by 
a distinct personification, " painted in horror's darkest 
hues, and lighted in the dance by the lurid flames 
through which he leaps." 

In " The Golden Terge," the sleeping poet is attacked 
by Venus and her train. Reason, holding over him a 
golden shield, repels all his assailants, until blinded by 
a powder which Presence flings in his eyes. The poor 
poet then becomes the captive of Lady Beauty, and is 
much tormented until the scene vanishes with a clap 
of thunder, and he awakes amid the song of birds and 
the perfume of bright May flowers. 



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The poems of Dunbar may be said to be of three 
classes — allegorical, moral, and comic. 



ALEXANDER BARCLAY, 
1522, 

Lived in the reigns of Henry VII. and his son, and 
wrote 

THE SHIP OF FOOLS, 

an allegorical and satirical poem, founded upon the 
German of Brandt. 



STEPHEN HA WES. 

Born in Suffolk, and afterwards Groom of the Cham- 
ber to Henry VII., wrote 

THE PASTIME OF PLEASURE; 
THE TEMPLE OF GLASS. 

He possessed great skill as a versifier and a thorough 
knowledge of Erench and Italian. 



GAWIN DOUGLAS, 
1475-1522, 

Was the third son of Archibald, fifth Earl of Angus. 
He was educated at Paris for the Church, and rose 
through a variety of inferior offices to the bishopric of 
Dunkeld. But for the Pope's refusal to sanction his 
appointment, he would have become Archbishop of St. 
Andrews. Political events compelled him to leave 
Scotland. He went to England, where he received 
most courteous attention at the court of Henry VIII. 
It is said he even received a pension from that monarch, 



English Literature. 



31 



but he did not long enjoy it, being suddenly cut off by 
| the plague. 

REMEDY OF LOVE, TRANSLATED FROM OVID. 
PALACE OF HONOUR. 
KING HART. 

VIRGIL'S iENEID TRANSLATED INTO SCOTTISH VERSE. 

" The Remedy of Love " was his earliest poetic 
effort, but has unfortunately not been preserved. His 
"Palace of Honour," written in 1501, was addressed 
to King James IV. The leading idea of the poem 
I strikingly resembles the " Pilgrim's Progress." " King 
| Hart," the only other long poem he wrote, presents a 
| metaphorical view of human life. 

The most remarkable production of this author was 
the translation of Virgil's " -ZEneid" into Scottish verse, 
being the first version of a Latin classic in any British 
tongue. It is a masterly performance, though in too 
obsolete a language ever to be popular. Douglas's 
verse is far from being rhythmical to modern ears ; yet 
the felicitous character of his allegories and the rich 
beauty of his descriptions are undisputed. 



Sometime Hector of Diss, in Norfolk, was educated 
both at Oxford and Cambridge, and received from each 
the academical honour of laureate. He was tutor to 
Prince Henry, afterwards King Henry VIII. His 
latter days were spent in the sanctuary at Westminster, 
" where he was forced to go to escape from the rage of 
Cardinal Wolsey at being made the subject of a scur- 
rilous lampoon, and who had ordered him to be arrested 
and imprisoned for the offence. 



JOHN SKELTON, 
1460-1529, 



PHILIP SPARROW. 

THE FUNNING OF ELYNOR RUMMPY. 
COLIN CLOUT. 

WHY COME YE NOT TO COURT? 



32 



Handbook of 



" Philip Sparrow " is a poetical lamentation made by 
a charming young maiden over the loss of a pet bird, 
slain in a convent of black nuns at Carowe, near 
Norwich. 

The "Funning" was highly popular and full of 
humour. " Colin Clout "is a general satire on the 
clergy; and the last on the list, u Why come ye not to 
Court?" is the lampoon before mentioned as being a 
virulent attack on Cardinal Wolsey. 

His poems consist in a now of rattling voluble verse, 
unrestrained satire and jocularity, and a profusion of 
grotesque imagery mixed up with Latin and slang 
phrases. At times there are gleams of bright fancy, 
and snatches of pleasant description. They are well 
worth reading ; the lines are sharp and short, resem- 
bling the old Saxon verse. 



English Literature. 



38 



SECOND PEKIOD. 



THE REVIVAL OF LETTERS. 

In every country of Europe the fifteenth century seems 
to have been an age of awakening. The art of print- 
ing enabled the cherished works of the masters to 
be reproduced in such numbers, as to be within the 
reach of all desirous of having them ; and this power of 
reproduction acted as a powerful stimulus. After 
Chaucer but little, as we have before shown, was done 
for one hundred and fifty years ; and this decline in 
England corresponded with the decline in Italian 
literature also. 

" The century which, after the death of Petrarch, had 
been devoted by the Italians to the study of antiquity, 
during which literature experienced no advance, and the 
Italian language seemed to retrograde, was not, however, 
lost to the powers of imagination. Poetry, on its first 
revival, had not received sufficient nourishment. The 
fund of knowledge, of ideas, and of images, which she 
called to her aid, was too restricted. The three great 
men of the fourteenth century, whom we first presented 
to the attention of the reader, had, by the sole force 
of their genius, attained a degree of erudition, and a 
sublimity of thought, far beyond the spirit of their age. 
These qualities were entirely personal ; and the rest of 
the Italian bards, like the Provencal poets, were reduced, 
by the poverty of their ideas, to have recourse to those 



34 



Handbook of 



continual attempts at wit, and to that mixture of unin- 
telligible ideas and incoherent images, which render the 
perusal of them so fatiguing. The whole of the fifteenth 
century was employed in extending in every direction 
the knowledge and resources of the friends of the Muses. 
Antiquity was unveiled to them in all its elevated cha- 
racters — its severe laws, its energetic virtues, and its 
beautiful and engaging mythology ; — in its subtle and 
profound philosophy, its overpowering eloquence, and its 
delightful poetry. Another age was required to knead 
afresh the clay for the formation of a nobler race. At 
the close of the century, a divine breath animated the 
finished statue, and it started into life." 

Towards the close of the reign of Henry VIII., 
the revival which had become so manifest in Italy was 
felt in England. Surrey and Wyatt travelled in Italy, 
and brought back to England with them the form and 
elegance, at the same time the fanciful ornamentation, of 
the Italian influence. The improvement in grace and 
style, and the polish which distinguishes their works 
over those of their predecessors, was unquestionably due 
to this. 

" Having travelled into Italie, and there tasted the 
sweet and stately measures and style of the Italian 
poesie, as novises newly crept out of the school of 
Dante, Ariosto, and Petrarch, they greatly polished our 
rude and homely manner of vulgar poesie from that it 
had been before, and for that cause may justly be sayd 
the first reformers of our English metre and style. 
Their conceits were lofty, their style stately, their con- 
veyance cleanly, their termes proper, their metre sweet 
and well-proportioned ; in all imitating very naturally 
and studiously their master, Francis Petrarch. " 

By them was introduced the form of verse called the 
" Sonnet," from the Italian " Sonetto," and to Surrey is 
due the introduction of that form of poetry known as 
blank verse. 

It is in the reign of Edward IV. that the earliest 
mention of a poet laureate occurs, when one J ohn Kaye 



English Literature. 



35 



| was appointed to the office. So far back as 1251 there 
was a King's versifier, and the change of title has thus 
been explained by Mr. Arnold : — 

" The solemn crowning of Petrarch on the Capitol, in 
the year 1341, made a profound sensation through all 
literary circles in Europe. Chaucer, as we have seen ? 
distinguishes Petrarch as 'the laureat poete.' In the 
next century we find the dignity of poeta laureat us 
forming one of the recognized degrees at our universities, 
and conferred upon proof being given by the candidate 
| of proficiency in grammar, rhetoric, and versification. 

It is impossible not to connect this practice of laureation 
I with the world-famous tribute rendered by the Romans 
| to the genius of Petrarch. After the institution of the 
degree, it is easy to understand that the king would 
I select his poet among the poetce later eati, and that the 
modest title of versificator would be dropped." 



Born in Kent, and educated at St. John's, Cambridge, 
and Christ Church, Oxford. After he had left the uni- 
versity, he travelled on the Continent for some years, 
returning a highly accomplished scholar and gentleman. 
He attracted the admiration of all ranks, and particu- 
larly of the king, who bestowed on him the order of 
knighthood, and employed him in various embassies. 
Like most eminent characters of this reign, he fell 
under the severe displeasure of the king, and was twice 
imprisoned, once through a court cabal, and the second 
time through the jealousy and false accusation of Bonner, 
Bishop of London, who imputed to him a treasonable 
correspondence with Cardinal Pole. He was tried 
before a committee of the council and acquitted, and 
regained the confidence of the king, who sent him 
soon after ambassador to the emperor. His eagerness 
to execute this commission proved fatal. In riding 




SIR THOMAS WYATT. 
1503-1541. 



J> 2 



36 



Handbook of 



fast in the *heat of summer, he was attacked by malig- 
nant fever, of which he died. 

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Wyatt contributed but little to the refinement of 
English poetry, and his versification and language are 
deficient in harmony and perspicuity. From a close 
study of the Italian poets, his imagination dwells too 
often on frivolous conceits and contrarieties. As a writer 
of love addresses, he is stately and pedantic, with very 
little mixture of feeling or passion ; and although de- 
tached beauties may be pointed out in a few of his 
sonnets, his genius was ill adapted to this kind of 
poetry. 



HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY, 
1517-1547, 

Was the son of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, 
and was educated by an eminent scholar named John 
Clarke. In 1526 he was appointed cup-bearer to 
Henry VIII. ; in 1536 he received the honour of knight- 
hood, and soon afterwards took a conspicuous part in 
public affairs. Towards the close of 1540, Surrey ac- 
companied the forces to France, when he commenced 
his military career. In 1542 he was elected Knight of 
the Garter, and in the same year he accompanied the 
expedition against the Scots, and was present at the 
burning of Kelsal, and battle of. Flodden Field. In 
1544 he was engaged in the French wars, and was 
appointed marshal, an office of considerable importance, 
and requiring capacity and courage, and distinguished 
himself more than once at the siege of Montreal. In 
1547 he was suspected of a design to marry the 
Princess Mary, and by that alliance of approaching to 
a possibility of wearing the crown. The addition of 
the escutcheon of Edward the Confessor, which he 
added to his own arms, although used by the Norfolk 
family for many years, and justified by the authority of 



English Literature. 



the Heralds, was a sufficient foundation for an im- 
peachment of high treason, and he was brought to trial 
at the Guildhall and found guilty ; remanded to the 
Tower, he was beheaded on the 21st of January, 1547, 
at the early age of thirty. 

SONGBS AND SONNETTES. 

TRANSLATION OF THE BOOK OF ECCLESIASTES INTO BLANK 
VERSE. 

POEM ON THE DUKE OF RICHMOND. 
TRANSLATION OF BOCCACCIO'S EPISTLE TO PINUS. 
TRANSLATION OF THIRD AND FOURTH BOOKS OF THE 
iENEID. 

His " Songes and Sonnettes" were first collected and 
printed in London in 1557, and of their popularity w^e 
have convincing proofs in the rapidity with which each 
edition multiplied. In two months they went through 
no less than four distinct impressions. 

For his justness of thought, correctness of style, and 
purity of expression, Surrey may justly be pronounced 
the first English classical poet; he is unquestionably 
the first polite writer of love verses in our language. 
He took Petrarch for his model, and his sentiments 
are for the most part natural and unaffected, arising 
from his own feeling, and expressed with simplicity and 
elegance. 

The use of blank verse was introduced into the 
English language by Surrey, and the sonnets, taken 
from the Italian poets, acquired at once an important 
place in English poetical composition. 

" The true merit of Surrey is, that he restored to 
our poetry a correctness, polish, and general spirit of 
refinement, such as it had not known since Chaucer's 
time ; and of which, therefore, in the language as now 
spoken, there was no previous example whatever." In 
his purification of English verse, he did good service 
by casting out those clumsy Latin words, with which 
the lines of even Dunbar are heavily clogged. 



38 



Handbook of 



SIR DAVID LYNDSAY, 

1490-1548, 

Was born in Haddingtonshire, and educated at the 
University of St. Andrews. At the age of fifteen he 
travelled in Italy, and afterwards was appointed to 
the office of page and companion to the young King 
James I., by whom he was knighted in 1532, and 
invested with the dignity of Lord Lyon King at 
Arms. 

SATIRE ON FREE ESTATES. 
HISTORY OF SQUIRE MELDRUM. 
THE DREME. 

THE COMPLAINT OF THE PAPINGO. 
SQUIRE MELDRUM. 
THE MONARCHIE. 

The " Satire " is his principal work, and bears a close 
resemblance in structure to the old moral play. 

In "The Dreme," the poet is conducted by Remem- 
brance, first to the infernal regions, which he finds 
peopled with churchmen of every grade, — then to 
Purgatory, — then through the " three elements," to the 
seven planets in their successive spheres, — then beyond 
them, to the empyrean and the celestial abodes. The 
poetical topography is without doubt borrowed from 
Dante. He is then transported back to earth, and 
visits Paradise ; whence, by a "very rapid transition, " 
as Warton calls it, he is taken to Scotland, where he 
meets " Johne the comounweill," who treats him to 
a long general satire on the corrupt state of that 
kingdom. After this the poet is in the usual manner 
brought back to the cave by the sea- side where he fell 
asleep, and wakes up from his dream. There is pre- 
fixed to the poem an exhortation in ten stanzas, 
addressed to King James V., in which advice and 
warning are conveyed with miceremonious plainness. 
The "Monarchic" is an account of the most famous 
monarchies that have flourished in the world, com- 



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39 



mencing with the creation of man and ending with 
the day of judgment. This poem, which is for the 
most part in the common romance metre, or eight- 
syllable couplet, runs over with satire and invective. 
Lyndsay's powerful attacks on the Scottish clergy, 
the state of which at that time unfortunately afforded 
but too much ground for them, are said to have 
hastened the religious war in Scotland. 

In " The Complaint " both court and clergy receive 
the lessons of wisdom from the king's parrot. 

The poems of Lyndsay, though practical and contro- 
versialjrather than imaginative, display great power of 
description and imagery. 



GEOKGE GASCOIGNE. 
1530-1577. 

Born at Walthamstow, in Essex. Studied for the 
law, but, addicted rather to pleasure than business, he 
was disinherited by his father, and, joining the army in 
Holland, was appointed to a regiment by the Prince of 
Orange. Returning to Lincoln's Inn, he devoted him- 
self to literary pursuits, and accompanying Queen Eliza- 
beth on her progress to Kenilworth, he composed a 
masque, which he recited for her amusement. In his old 
age he retrieved his reputation. 

THE FRUITS OF WAR. 
THE STEELE GLASS. 

His works are little known ; he wrote well and grace- 
fully, his verses flowing easily ; they abound in conceits 
and fancies after the fashion of the times in which he 
wcrte. 



40 



Handbook of 



THOMAS TUSSER, 
1523-1580, 
Born in Essex, wrote a poem entitled 

FIVE HUNDRED POINTS OF GOOD HUSBANDRY. 

It displays a knowledge of agriculture, and pictures 
pleasantly, in simple verse, the English peasant and 
country life of the time of its production. 



GEORGE BUCHANAN, 
1506-1582, 

Wrote, in the most polished and elegant Latin, which 
rivalled that of the best Roman poets, a number of 

POEMS ; 

A HISTOBY OF SCOTLAND; 
TRANSLATION OF THE PSALMS. 

The poems are principally of a " moral, satirical, 
dramatic, and sentimental character." Buchanan was 
possessed of the most versatile powers, and his works 
are characterized by great originality and vigour of 
thought. 



SIR PHILIP SIDNEY, 

1554-1586, 

Was born in Kent, educated at Shrewsbury and at 
both Universities. In 1572 he went abroad, and when 
in Paris " narrow lye scaped " being one of the victims 
at St. Bartholomew. He was one of Queen Elizabeth's 
most favourite courtiers, and in 1576 was sent by her on 
an embassy to the court of Vienna. In 1586 he was 
appointed governor of Mushing, whither he went to 
take part in the war then being waged between the 



English Literature. 



41 



Hollanders and Spanish. He received a musket-shot 
in the thigh at the battle of Zutphen, in Grelderland, and 
after lingering for some days in great suffering he died 
at Arnhecia, in the 32nd year of his age. His body 
was brought to England, and after lying in state was 
buried at St. Paul's, a general mourning being ob- 
served throughout the country. The love and admira- 
tion which Sidney won from his contemporaries was a 
tribute mainly to the singular beauty of his character. 
His purity and nobility of nature, and the winning 
courtesies in which its gentle magnanimity expressed 
itself, took captive all hearts whilst he lived, and have 
since kept sweet his memory. 

SONNETS. 

His sonnets are regarded as amongst the best of 
their kind, and are of rare merit. Sidney is, however, 
better known as a prose writer than as a poet. 



ROBERT SOUTHWELL, 
1560-1595, 

Was born at St. Faith's, in Norfolk, and educated at 
the English College of Douay. After remaining for 
six years in the Jesuit College, he came to England as 
a missionary. For eight years he laboured quietly and 
unmolested. At last, however, the heavy penal laws 
were put in force against him, and he was hanged at 
Tyburn. 

ST. PETER'S COMPLAINT. 
MARY MAGDALENE'S TEARS. 
SCORN NOT THE LEAST. 

The two first of these poems are of some length. 
They were written while he was in prison, and 
display the most melancholy sentiments. They have 
been many times reprinted. Southwell may be said 
to be the founder of the modern English style of 
religious poetry. 



42 



Handbook of 



The little poem " Scorn not the Least " is one of the 
most charming of his effusions, and is, to a certain ex- 
tent, representative of the lyrical poetry of the age. 



GEORGE TURBERVILLE: 
1530-1598. 

Born at Whitchurch, in Dorsetshire, educated first at 
Winchester School, he afterwards became Eellow of 
New College, Oxford, but left the University without 
taking a degree, and resided for some time in one of the 
Inns of Court. 

In after life he was appointed secretary to Thomas 
Randolph, Esq., Queen Elizabeth's ambassador at the 
Court of Russia. 

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

TRANSLATIONS OF OVID'S HEROICAL EPISTLES. 
SONNETS, EPITAPHS, ETC. 

There is considerable diversity of fancy and senti- 
ment in his pieces. His satirical effusions, if occasion- 
ally flat and vulgar, are exceedingly characteristic. 

His love sonnets, although seemingly addressed to 
a real mistress, are full of the borrowed passion of a 
translator, and the elaborate language of a scholar. It 
may, however, be added, in his favour, that he seldom 
transgresses against morals or delicacy. 



EDMUND SPENSER. 
1553-1598. 

Of Spenser's parentage little is known. He was born 
in London, and educated at Cambridge, where he took 
his degree of M.A. in 1576. He then became tutor to 
Sir P. Sidney. After a time he repaired to London, 
where his rising fame and the friendship of his pupils 



English Literature. 



43 



obtained for him great patronage, especially of the 
powerful Earl of Leicester. He was sent on a mission to 
the court of France. In 1580 he was appointed sec- 
retary to Lord Grey, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. 
In his official capacity, Spenser displayed those talents 
for business which are sometimes absurdly assumed to 
be incompatible with a genius for elegant literature. 
In 1586 his services were acknowledged by a grant of 
land in the county of Cork. In 1590 Queen Elizabeth 
created him poet laureate, with a pension of £50 per 
annum. In 1596 he was made sheriff of Cork, but his 
prosperity was shortly afterwards terminated by a 
terrible calamity. After the rebellion of Tyrone, in 
1597, his house was set on fire. Spenser, his wife, and 
two sons made their escape, but his youngest child 
perished in the flames. This catastrophe broke his 
heart, and he died the year following at an inn in 
London. 

THE FAERIE QUEEN. 
THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR. 
THE TEARES OF THE MUSES. 
RUINES OF TIME. 

The "Faerie Queen" is termed by Spenser himself 
"a continued allegory, or dark conceit," having for 
its design " to fashion a gentleman or noble person in 
virtuous and gentle discipline." 

"The Ruines of Time" is dedicated to Sidney's 
sister, the Countess of Pembroke, and is a lament over 
her brother's untimely death. " The marvellous poetic 
energy, the perfect finish, the depth of thought, the 
grace, tenderness, and richness of this poem, make it 
eminently illustrative of Spenser's genius." 

" The Teares of the Muses " is a lament over the fallen 
state of the public taste, which was leading " nobles to 
sacrifice true fame to vanity and avarice, and authors 
to substitute servility and personality for wit." Each 
Muse bewails in turn the miserable condition of the 
branch of art over which she is supposed to preside. 

Out of the twelve books originally composing, or 



44 



Handbook of 



•which, ought to compose, " The Faerie Queen/' we 
have but six in an entire state, containing the " Legends " 
of the Red Cross Knight, Sir Guyon, Britomartis, 
a lady knight, Cambel and Triamond, Sir Artegall, 
and Sir Calidore. 

The rest, except a fragment, were lost by a servant 
on the passage from Ireland to England. Each book 
is divided into twelve cantos, and the versification 
of the whole is in a peculiar stanza of nine lines, now 
commonly called the " Spenserian," and remarkable 
for its elegance and harmony. Each book is also 
devoted to the adventures of a particular knight, who 
personifies a certain virtue, as Holiness, Temperance, 
Courtesy, &c, and who moves in the midst of a whole 
host of sentiments and ideas, personified in the same 
way, the whole bearing the appearance of a chivalrous 
tale. 

In the characters and adventures of these heroic 
personages, the virtues of holiness, temperance, chastity, 
friendship, justice, and courtesy are severally illustrated 
and portrayed. Of the remaining six books, we possess, 
in two cantos on mutability, a fragment of the Legend 
on Constancy. Whether any or what other portions of 
them were ever written, is not certainly known. 

A modern critic says of the " Faerie Queen," — "It is 
a peculiar world of itself, formed out of the extraor- 
dinary fancy of the author. His invention was without 
limit. Giants and dwarfs, fairies, and knights, and 
queens, rose up at his call. He drew shape after shape, 
scene after scene, castle and lake, woods and lawns, 
monstrous anomalies and beautiful impossibilities, from 
the unfathomable depths of his mind ; yet all of them 
intended to represent some shade or kind of emotion, 
passion, or faculty, or the things upon which these are 
continually operating. ' 9 



English Literature. 



45 



WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 
1564-1616. 

The sonnets of Shakspeare place him properly 
among the poetic writers. His life and the character 
of his writing will be found in its place among the 
dramatists — for snch Shakspeare essentially was. 

VENUS AND ADONIS. 
LUCRECE. 

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM* 
A LOVER'S COMPLAINT. 

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FOUR SONNETS. 

All are characterized by great beauty and the most 
glowing imagery. It is, however, to be ever regretted 
that the subjects of such passionate verses prevent 
them from ever becoming adapted for general reading. 



JAMES THE FIRST OP ENGLAND, 

When only eighteen years of age, published a volume 
entitled 

THE RULES OF POETRY, WITH ILLUSTRATIVE SPECIMENS, 

which show no mean talent in the royal composer. 



SIR JOHN DAVIES, 
1570-1626, 

A poet and statesman of some reputation, was edu- 
cated at Queen's College, Oxford, where he studied 
five years. He was called to the bar in 1595, but 
forfeited his privileges, and was eventually expelled 
from the Temple on account of certain indiscretions. 
He began his political career in 1601. In 1603, he 
Was sent by James I. as solicitor-general to Ireland, 
and almost immediately after he became attorney- 



46 



Handbook of 



general. He was called to the degree of serjeant-at- 
law in 1606, and soon after was knighted. In 1613 
he was chosen Speaker of the House of Commons. 

NOSCE TEIPSUM. 
ORCHESTRA. 

This poem is on the soul and its immortality 
and immutability. The " Orchestra," or a poem 
on Dancing, is a dialogue between Penelope and 
one of her wooers. It is very fanciful ; Penelope is 
represented as declining to dance with Antinous, who 
lectures her upon the antiquity and merits of that 
exercise. 

His verse is elegant without being artificial, and 
flowing without being careless, while its compact 
structure is remarkable considering the times in which 
he wrote. 



MICHAEL DRAYTON, 
1563-1631, 

Was born at Hartsliill, in Warwickshire. But little 
is known of the events of his life. He is said to have 
been educated at Cambridge, and to have been in the 
army when young. He was poet laureate in 1626. 

THE SHEPHERD'S GARLAND. 
THE BARON'S WARS, 
ENGLAND'S HEROICAL EPISTLES. 
POLTOLBION. 
NYMPHIDIA. 

The "Shepherd's Garland" is his earliest work. 
"The Baron's Wars" and the "Epistles" display the 
happy blending of the poetical and historical, which 
is one of the author's distinguishing characteristics. 
The latter work consists of twelve pairs of epistles, 
after the manner of Ovid, supposed to be exchanged 
between so many pairs of royal or noble lovers : among 
these are Henry II. and Fair Kosamond, Owen Tudor 
and Queen Catharine, Surrey and Geraldine, Guilford 



English Literature. 



47 



Dudley and Lady Jane Grey. The style is "flowing, 
fiery, and energetic, and modern" The "Polyolbion" 
is Drayton's greatest work, and stands alone, both in 
style and subject, among other English poetry. It is a 
poem in thirty parts, which are called songs, in a 
measure of twelve syllables, and contains a description 
of the island of Great Britain. It is full of topo- 
graphical and antiquarian details, " with innumerable 
allusions to remarkable events and persons, as connected 
with various localities ; yet such is the poetical genius 
of the author, so happily does he idealize almost every 
thing he touches on, and so lively is the flow of his 
verse, that we do not readily tire in perusing this vast 
mass of information. " He seems to have followed the 
manner of Spenser in his unceasing personifications of 
natural objects, such as hills, rivers, and woods. The 
passages from it are now and then met with in country 
histories and Works of an antiquarian character, which 
surprise the reader with their stately rhythm, their 
nervous force, and their felicity of diction. It aimed 
at being a complete topographical dictionary ; as a work 
of utility, however, it fails. As a poem, it is well 
worthy of the praise bestowed upon it. 

" There is probably no poem of this kind in any 
other language comparable together in extent and 
excellence to the ' Polyolbion ; ' nor can any one read 
a portion of it without admiration for its learned and 
highly gifted author." 



JOHN DONNE, 
1573-1631, 

Was of Welsh extraction ; his parents were Catholics, 
and he was educated in that faith. He went to Oxford 
at the age of eleven ; from thence he went to Cambridge. 
Although he greatly distinguished himself at these seats 
of learning, the faith of his parents prevented him from 
taking a degree. At the age of seventeen, he entered 



48 



Handbook of 



Lincoln's Inn to read for the bar, and while so engaged 
he carefully studied the principal points in dispnte be- 
tween Catholics and Protestants, and finally joined the 
latter. In 1594 he went abroad, and lived for three 
years in Spain and Italy. On his return he was made 
secretary to Lord Ellesmere, Lord Keeper of the Great 
Seal. 

Some years later he was made D.D. by the University 
of Cambridge, and after accompanying an embassy to 
the Queen of Bohemia, he was made, on his return, Dean 
of St. Paul's and Vicar of St. Dunstan's. He died of 
fever in 1631. 

EPITHAL AMI A. 

METEMPSYCHOSIS ; OR, THE PROGRESS OF THE SOUL. 
FUNERAL ELEGIES. 
DIVINE POEMS. 
SONGS AND SONNETS. 

Donne is usually considered as the first of a Series of 
poets who, under the name of the metaphysical poets, 
fill a conspicuous place in English literary history. His 
fancy was rich and subtle, his wit keen and poignant, 
and under all the artificiality of his writings there is a 
vein of true poetic feeling. There is no doubt, however, 
that the great popularity which he enjoyed in his own 
day has long since given way before the ruggedness and 
involved obscurity of his style. If " the painful puns, 
the far-fetched similes, the extravagant metaphors, which 
form the substance of the poetry of Donne were taken 
out, very little would be left." 



GEOEGE HERBERT, 
1693-1632, 

Brother of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, the infidel writer, 
was born in Wales, educated at Westminster and 
Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected fel- 
low ; and later, promoted to the office of public orator. 
On the death of James I. he studied divinity, and finally 



English Literature. 



49 



I took holy orders. He was prebendary of Leighton 
Bromswold in 1626 ; he died at the early age of thirty- 
nine, from the effects of a quotidian ague. His life was 

j one of quiet dignified study. 

THE TEMPLE. 

A PRIEST TO THE TEMPLE. 

The first of these works is a collection of sacred 
poems, the style of which is sententious, antithetical and 
quaint. The " Church Porch," the first in the book, is 
unequalled for its didactic pithiness; and the last, entitled 
" The Church Militant," enunciates the theory that reli- 
gion always has and always will travel to the westward. 
It seems that for some time the vice-chancellor of Cam- 
bridge refused to license the printing of the work. The 
" Priest to the Temple " was published in his " Remains," 
after his death, in 1652. 

All Herbert's poetry is characterized by depth and 
force, but lacks warmth ; it is also much disfigured by 
fantastic conceits. It contains, however, several passages 
of the purest pious verse that the language possesses. 
Some of the minor poems in "The Temple " may be 
given as instances of this, especially that entitled " Sweet 
Day so Cool." 



SIR HENRY WOTTON. 
1568-1639. 

Born at Boughton Hall, Kent. He became in after life 
ambassador at Venice and provost of Eton. He was a 
great friend of Izaak Walton, and was among the first 
to discover the grand qualities and merit of the poetry 
of John Milton. 

FAREWELL TO THE VANITIES OF THE WORLD. 
THE RELIQULE WOTTONIANiE. 

The latter were published in 1651, twelve years after 
the author's death. Many of the effusions give him a 
fair claim to be considered one of the poets of the 

E * 



50 



Handbook of 



time. The "Farewell to the World" breathes the ideas 
of a platonist and the detachment of a hermit from the 
cares and vanities of the world. 



THOMAS CAEEW, 
1589-1639, 

"Was born in Gloucestershire of an ancient family, 
and educated at Oxford. He was attached to the court 
of Charles L, to whom he acted as server. His life was 
one of thoughtless gaiety. 

CCELUM BKITANNICUM. 
SONGS AND SONNETS. 

The first-mentioned work was a masque, written at 
the request of Charles L His poetry is chiefly of an 
amatory character, and full of similitudes and conceits. 
It does not rise to a very high standard, and has in the 
past been somewhat over-rated. His style, on the whole, 
is graceful and flowing. One of the best of his miscel- 
laneous songs is that entitled " He that Loves a Rosy 
Cheek." 



English Literature. 



51 



THIKD PERIOD. 



PURITAN INFLUENCE. 

The age of Elizabeth, saw the rise of a species of 
poetry which reached its zenith during the period 
embraced by the Civil War and Restoration. The 
origin of ballad and lyrical poetry may be traced to 
the Italian influence of the former period. The sonnet 
introduced and made popular by Surrey and Wyatt in 
the preceding period took a firm hold, and has afforded 
scope for writers ever since ; and the Spenserian school 
was also perpetuated. The period immediately under 
consideration, however, afforded more lyrical poetry 
than great poems ; and lignt easy verses, full of conceits 
and fancies, became the fashion. The gallantry of the 
cavaliers found in it a ready means of expression; the 
satirists on both sides used it to utter their most biting 
invectives ; and the Puritan poets made it the vehicle 
of address to their psalm and hymn singing brethren. 
The court poets — as such men as Herrick, Lovelace, 
Waller, and Suckling are called — devoted themselves to 
the celebration of courtly life, of the beauty of their 
mistresses, and such other kindred themes as suggested 
themselves. The writings of each, and all are distin- 
guished for their gracefulness and wit, but are often 
disfigured by licentiousness and impurity. 

The Puritan poets were not nearly so numerous. 
The Puritan writers chiefly devoted themselves to prose ; 

e 2 



52 



Handbook of 



indeed, some of the best religious poetry of the time 
came from the pens of Royalists. This, of course, with 
the exception of Milton, who stands pre-eminent as 
the one great poet of the period. Milton's poetical 
influence was not, however, fully felt at the time. 
Indeed, not one of his poems had the same effect on 
his times as did one of his prose works. The influence 
and opinions of the party to which Milton was a most 
ardent adherent, may be looked upon as embodied in 
his works. It was a period when a great struggle was 
taking place between two opposite parties, each with 
distinct and avowed principles of their own, and with 
nothing in common. The Puritans required liberty of 
the press, democratic government, and a toleration of 
all religions but one. Though in his poems these 
doctrines, if they are inculcated at all, are done so very 
indirectly, yet they breathe out the better religious 
feelings, and deep faith and trust in God, which after 
all lay at the root of the Puritan character. In such 
manner, therefore, as Milton has influenced the poetical 
literature of England, so much has it been influenced 
by the better feelings of the Puritan influence. The 
religious earnestness which is the strength of the 
English character remained vigorous in the heart of 
the English people ; and though the court and fashion 
of the later period of the Restoration brought with it 
an influence directly contrary, yet it acted as a leaven, 
which leavened after a while the whole lump, 



SIR JOHN SUCKLING. 
1613-1641. 

Born at Twickenham ; at a very early age he displayed 
a great aptitude for languages ; at eighteen years of age 
he came into the possession of a great fortune. After- 
wards he travelled a good deal, but seems to have 
affected nothing more than the character of a courtier 



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53 



and fine gentleman. In liis travels he made a campaign 
under Grustavus Adolphus, and on his retnrn to 
England he raised a troop of horse for the king's 
service, entirely at his own charge, and mounted them 
so completely and richly that they are said to have 
cost him £12,000. This troop, with Sir John at its 
head, behaved so ill in the engagement with the Scots 
upon the English borders in 1639, as to be the occasion 
of a famous lampoon, which was set to a brisk tnne and 
sung by the Parliamentarians. Detected in a plot to 
set Strafford free, he fled to France, where he died 
before 1642, having, it is thought, committed suicide by 
poison. 

BALLAD UPON A WEDDING. 
SONGS. 

In the quieter hours of his restless life he produced 
Several poetical effusions, which are characterized by 
great beauty and brilliancy. In the " Ballad upon a 
Wedding " he makes one rustic describe to another the 
circumstances and details of a city wedding. He had a 
happy fancy, a sprightly wit, with a considerable power 
of description and elegant versification. 



WILLIAM CARTWEIGHT. 
1611-1643. 

This poet, the son of an innkeeper at Cirencester, 
was educated at Oxford, and entered into holy orders. 
Being a most zealous Royalist, he was taken prisoner 
by the Parliamentary forces. Soon after, however, he 
was made junior proctor of the University, and reader 
in metaphysics. He died of malignant fever, and so 
greatly was he liked that the king and court went into 
mourning for him. He was one of Ben Jonson's 
" adopted sons of the muses," who thus remarked of 
him, " My son Cartwright writes like a man." He was 



54 



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only twenty-six years of age when Jonson died, so he 
must have begun to write early. 

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

These poems are mostly short, and addressed to 
persons with whom he was acquainted. They were 
exceedingly popular at the time when they were written, 
but modern criticism can see but little in them. The 
verses " To a Lady Veiled," " To Chloe," " The Dream," 
are perhaps the best. 



FEANCIS QUARLES, 
1592-1644, 

Was born in Essex, educated at Cambridge, and be- 
came a member of Lincoln's Inn. He was an ardent 
Royalist, and was for some time cup-bearer to the Queen 
of Bohemia. He was afterwards secretary to Arch- 
bishop Usher in Ireland, and chronologist to the City 
of London. 

DIVINE EMBLEMS. 

The poetry of this writer is " partly sentimental, 
partly fantastic." The obsolete quaintness of his style 
has caused his works to fall much into neglect. Yet he 
possessed a truly poetical mind ; and in his works is 
displayed original imagery, striking sentiment, fertility 
of expression, and happy combinations, together with a 
compression of style that merits observation. 

His principal work was the "Divine Emblems," a set 
of quaint pictorial designs, referring to moral and 
religious ideas, of which each are elucidated by a few 
appropriate verses. 



WILLIAM BROWNE, 
1590-1645, 

Was born at Tavistock, in Devonshire, and studied 
at the Inner Temple. He spent the greater portion of 



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55 



Ms life in the service of two great families — Pembroke 
and Carnarvon. 

BRITANNIA'S PASTORALS. 
INNER TEMPLE MASQUE. 

The " Pastorals " are a combination of beantifnl 
landscapes and allegory, after the manner of Spenser. 
They partake more of the character of descriptive 
poems than pastorals, being deficient in dramatic power. 
The "Masque " is of a % much loftier cast of imagination, 
and often as a work of poetic art approaches perfection. 
Though Browne wrote with feeling and simplicity, he 
is now almost forgotten. 



WILLIAM DRUMMOND, 
1585-1649, 

One of the greatest among the Scottish poets, w T as 
the son of Sir John Drummond, one of the gentlemen 
ushers to King James. After studying civil law for 
four years in France, he succeeded to and took up his 
abode at an estate situated near Roslin Castle, called 
Hawthornden, with which place his name is always 
coupled. He was visited by all the notables of his 
day, including Ben Jonson. Drummond was so intense 
a Royalist that the death of Charles I. is said to have 
had so great an effect upon him as to hasten him into 
a premature grave. 

FLOWERS OF ZION. 

TEARS ON THE DEATH OF MOELIADES. 
WANDERING MUSES. 
SONNETS AND SHORT PIECES. 

The " Tears" was written to mourn the loss of Prince 
Henry, and the " Wandering Muses, or the Royal River 
Feasting," is a congratulatory poem to King James, on 
his revisiting Scotland. 



56 



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Drummond's poetry possesses much sweetness, and 
its versification is easy and harmonious. His sonnets 
are remarkable for their " natural feeling, elevation of 
sentiment, and grace of expression. Some of his short 
pieces are coarse and licentious ; but the general purity 
of his language, the harmony of his verse, and the play 
of fancy, in all his principal productions, are his distin- 
guishing characteristics . ' J 



RICHARD CRASHAW. 
Died 1650. 

The date of this writer's birth is unknown. His 
father was a preacher at the Temple Church, London, 
and he was educated at Peterhouse College, Cambridge, 
of which he afterwards became a fellow. He lived for 
some years attached to the chantry of St. Mary Peter- 
house, and spent his time writing religious poetry and 
performing devotional offices, "offering," as he says in 
his preface, "like a primitive saint, more prayers by 
night than others offer by day." He was ejected from 
his fellowship for not complying with the parliament ary 
rules, and having retired to France, he there became a 
Roman Catholic. Cowley obtained for him the patron- 
age of Henrietta Maria, who secured for him the in- 
fluence of the Romish Church. He was made secretary 
to one of the cardinals, and a canon of the church of 
Loretto. The preaching of Crashaw was of the most 
powerful and eloquent kind, and he possessed great 
learning and many accomplishments. 

STEPS TO THE TEMPLE. 
DELIGHTS OF THE MUSES. 
TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ITALIAN. 

The "Steps to the Temple" and the "Delights of 
the Muses " are to be found in a volume of religious 
poetry which he published about the year 1G^6. They 



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57 



are imbued with a fine spirit of religions fervour and 
enthusiasm, and display rich and elegant fancy and 
invention. The "Mystical" pervades all Crashaw's 
poems, and perhaps no poet of his day is richer in 
"barbaric pearl and gold, the genuine ore of poetry." 
Metaphors, similes, apostrophes, are plentifully scat- 
tered throughout his lines ; but amid them all he is 
never verbose, nor does he ever become tedious or 
weary the reader. Crashaw's poetical genius shows 
most in his translations. He was a complete master of 
versification, and it has been well said that in the 
translation of " Music's Duel " from the Latin of Strada, 
" It is seldom that so sweet and luxurious a strain of 
pure description and sentiment greets us." 



PHINEAS AND GILES FLETCHER, 
1584-1650. 

These were brothers and clergymen ; the former, 
rector of Hilgay, in Korfolk ; the latter, rector of 
Alderton, in Suffolk. They were cousins of the 
dramatist, John Fletcher. 

THE PURPLE ISLAND, AND MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 

These are the works of Phineas Fletcher. "The 
Purple Island " is an elaborate and anatomical descrip- 
tion of the body and mind of man. He begins with 
the veins, arteries, bones and muscles of the human 
frame, picturing them as hills, dales, streams and rivers ; 
and describing with great minuteness their different 
meanderings, elevations and appearances. He then 
describes the mind, of which the intellect is prince. 
Some of his stanzas have all the easy flow and melli- 
fluous sweetness of Spenser's " Faerie Queen," but 
others are spoilt by affectation and quaintness, and by 
the tediousness inseparable from long-protracted alle- 
gory. His fancy was most luxuriant. 

CHRIST'S VICTORY AND TRIUMPH 

Is the work of Giles Fletcher. There is a massive 



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grandeur and earnestness about this poem which strikes 
the imagination. It is of a much higher character than 
the work of his brother. Both these brothers were 
endowed with eminently poetical minds ; but an inju- 
dicious taste, and excessive fondness for allegorical 
personification, prevented their powers from being 
effectively displayed. 

"Both," says Mr. Campbell, "were disciples of Spenser, 
and with his diction gently modernized, retained much 
of his melody and luxuriant expression. Giles, inferior 
as he is to Spenser and Milton, might be figured, in his 
happiest moments, as a link of connexion in our poetry 
between these congenial spirits, for he reminds us of 
both, and evidently gave hints to the latter in a poem 
on the same subject with * Paradise Regained.' " 



JOHN HALL. 
1627-1656. 

But little is known of this poet, except that he was 
born in Durham, and studied some time for the bar. 
Some of his political writings attracted the notice of 
the Parliament, and he was sent to Scotland in the 
suite of Oliver Cromwell : being taken ill, he returned 
home to die, at the early age of twenty-nine. 

HOKJE VACTOE -ESSAYS. 
TWO VOLUMES OF POEMS. 



JOHN CLEVELAND, 
1613-1658, 

Was born in Leicestershire, where his father was 
rector of a parish. After completing his studies at 
Cambridge, he became for some time a college tutor, 
but when the civil war broke out he joined the Royal 
forces, and sang the loudest of all the Royalist poets. 
In 1655 he was seized and placed in confinement, but 
having petitioned Cromwell to be released, he was 



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59 



set at liberty, and died three years afterwards, in 
London. 

SATIRES. 

ON PHILLIS WALKING BEFORE SUNRISE. 

The latter is one of his best poems, but presents a 
mass of "affected metaphors and fancies," with "mor- 
sels of genuine poetry" here and there. His gallantry 
is of a most. fanciful and ridiculous kind. Everything 
in nature is made to do homage to his lady-love. 



RICHARD LOVELACE. 
1618-1658. 

Born in Kent, and educated at the Charterhouse. 
He entered as gentleman commoner of Gloucester Hall 
in 1634. In 1636 he was created — then only at the age 
of seventeen — Master of Arts. After he left the Uni- 
versity he acted as ensign in the Scotch expedition. 
After the pacification of Berwick, he retired to England, 
being then on the commission of the peace; he was 
made choice of by the whole body and county of Kent, 
at an assize, to deliver the Kentish Petition to the House 
of Commons, for restoring the King to his rights. 
For this he was committed to the Gatehouse, at West- 
minster, but after a few weeks' imprisonment he was 
restored to liberty, upon bail of £4,000, not to stir out 
of the lines of communication without a pass from the 
Speaker. After the rendition of Oxford garrison in 
1646, he formed a regiment for the service of the 
French king ; was wounded at Dunkirk in 1648 ; 
returning to England, he was again committed. 

After the execution of King Charles I. he was set at 
liberty, and having by that time consumed all his 
estate, he grew melancholy in disposition, and so poor 
that he became the object of charity, and lodged 



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in an obscure and dirty street near Shoe Lane, Lon- 
don, where he died. 

LUCASTER. 
THE SOLDIER. 

"Lucaster" is a collection of all his poems and 
sonnets, which are emanations not only of the stirring- 
period in which he lived, but of the peculiar circum- 
stances into which he was thrown at different epochs of 
his life. 

The versification of Lovelace is generally rugged and 
unmusical. Yet he has left behind him one or two 
things which our greatest poets would not have been 
ashamed to own. 



JAMES SHIRLEY. 
1596-1666. 

This author, distinguished as a dramatist, also wrote 
a volume of miscellaneous poems, of which the finest is 

DEATH'S FINAL CONQUEST, 

which appears in one of his dramas. None of the 
poems are distinguished by very high poetical genius ; 
they are, however, elegantly written and full of fancy. 



SIR RICHARD FAN SH A WE, 
1607-1666, 

Brother of Lord Fanshawe, and an ardent Royalist, 
who was appointed Secretary of War to Prince Rupert. 
At the Restoration he was appointed ambassador to 
Spain, which office he filled till his death. 

TRANSLATION OF THE LUSIAD OF CAMOENS. 
PASTOR FIDO OF GUAR INI. 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



English Literature. 61 



Among the latter will be found some charming 
specimens of lyrical poetry, displaying great taste and 
elegance of diction, with a happy imagery. " Lines to a 
Rose," "A Rub Fool," and a Royalist song are the 
best. 



GEORGE WITHER. 
1588-1667. 

Born in Hampshire, and educated at Magdalen 
College, Oxford. After being thrown into prison for 
the writing of a satirical poem, he sold the paternal 
estate, raised a troop of horse, and joined the Par- 
liamentary army, in which he attained the rank of 
major. In 1642 he was made governor of Farnham 
Castle ; but being accused of deserting his post, the 
governorship was taken from him and bestowed upon 
Sir "William Waller. Being taken prisoner by the 
Royalists, he was condemned to suffer capital punish- 
ment ; but his life was spared at the request of Sir 
John Denham, a brother bard, who declared that he 
could not be considered the worst poet while Wither 
was alive. Wither afterwards became one of Crom- 
well's major-generals, and amassed a considerable for- 
tune out of the sequestrated estates of the Royalists. 
At the Restoration he was stript of it all, and thrown 
into prison, because his remonstrances were considered 
libellous. He was released, however, after some 
rigorous treatment, and lived some four years after 
under a bond of good behaviour. 

MISTRESS OF PHILARETE. 
SHEPHERDS HUNTING. 
COLLECTION OF EMBLEMS. 
ADDRESS TO POETRY. 
POEM ON CHRISTMAS. 

The poetry of this writer is imbued with sectarian 
gloom and bitterness of feeling. The first volume, a 
collection of poems with the title " The Mistress of 



62 



Handbook of 



Philarete," was written during his first imprisonment. 
In the " Poem on Christmas," a lively and truthful pic- 
ture is drawn of the manners and customs incidental to 
that period of the year, at the time when it was 
written. The " Address to Poetry" is, perhaps, the best 
of his works. It was also written in prison, and is not 
only "worthy of the theme, but is superior to most of 
the effusions of the period. The superiority of intel- 
lectual pursuits over the gratifications of sense and 
all the malice of fortune has never been more 
touchingly or more finely illustrated." 



ABRAHAM COWLEY, 
1618-1667, 

Was the son of a stationer in Cheapside, London, 
where he was born. He was educated at Westminster 
School, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he 
became a fellow. When thirteen years old he published 
a volume of poems, part of which had been composed 
when he was only ten. He was attached to the 
Hoyalist party, and advocated its principles. In 
consequence of this he was expelled from this college in 
1643. He was also ejected from Oxford for the same 
reason. In 1646 he followed the Queen Henrietta 
Maria to Paris, in which city he remained twelve 
3^ears. In 1658 he returned to England, and falling 
under the suspicion of Cromwell's government as to 
the object of his visit, he was imprisoned, but released 
on bail. He died a disappointed man, as his expecta- 
tions of reward for his long services in the cause of 
royalty were bitterly disappointed. He- had been 
promised the Mastership of Savoy, but his claims were 
neglected. He retired to his country seat at Chertsey, 
where he spent the last seven years of his life in 
studious retirement. 

He died from the effects of a cold caught by staying 
too long among his labourers in the hay-field, and was 



English Literature. 



\ buried in Westminster Abbey. He left behind him the 
reputation of being most amiable in disposition, and 
modest in deportment, preferring solitude to company, 

i professing, says his biographer, "that he went out of 
the world, as it was man's, into the same world, as it 
was nature's, and as it was God's." 

There was something in Cowley of extraordinary 
power, both to kindle affection and to disarm malice ; 
never was any man more truly loved by his friends ; 
and this personal charm may explain in part their ex- 
cessive admiration of his genius. 

MISCELLANIES. 
ANACREONTICS. 
PINDARIC ODES. 
THE MISTRESS. 
THE DAVIDEIS. 
POEM ON PLANTS. 

Cowley was rated by his contemporaries as the 
greatest poet of his day, an opinion which has not been 
confirmed by modern criticism. He was, perhaps, the 
greatest poet of the fantastic school, the claims of 
which have long been set upon one side. 

" It will be more easy," says Mr. Arnold, "to assign 
his proper rank to Cowley, if one remembers that he had 
a remarkably quick and apprehensive understanding, but 
a feeble character. One reads a few of his minor pieces, 
and is struck by the penetrating power of his wit, and 
dazzled by the daring nights of his imagination ; one 
conceives such a man to be capable of the greatest 
things. Yet it is not so ; a native weakness prevents 
him from soaring with a sustained flight ; the hue of 
his resolution is ever e sicklied o'er with the pale cast 
of thought ; ' or rather his resolution is not of that tried 
and stable quality at the outset which would enable it 
to brush away subsequent and conflicting impulses from 
its path." 

Cowley's light and sparkling renderings of Horace 
and Anacreon are his happiest efforts. Of his writings 
they alone are now cared for. "The Mistress" is a 



64 



Handbook of 



collection of love verses. " The Davideis " was begun 
at Cambridge, with, the idea of producing a great epic 
poem upon a scriptural subject ; but no more than 
four cantos were completed when the design was 
abandoned, saying in his preface to these four cantos — 
" I shall be ambitious of no other fruit for this weak 
and imperfect attempt of mine, but the opening of a 
way to the courage and industry of some other persons, 
who may be better able to perform it thoroughly and 
successfully." 

The " Poem on Plants" was the result of the study 
of medicine which his friends recommended him to 
pursue on his return to England. 

The whole of his compositions " possess great shrewd- 
ness, ingenuity, and learning ; yet, though they fre- 
quently excite admiration, they seldom convey pleasure. 
The false taste of the age, and a fatal propensity to 
treat everything abstractly or metaphysically, deform, 
in his case, the productions of a very able intellect." 



SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT. 
1605-1668. 

The son of a tavern keeper at Oxford, where he was 
born. He became a most energetic Royalist, and 
suffered considerably in the many changes of the civil 
war. He was compelled to flee from England into 
France. During the protectorate, having taken a 
passage on board a sailing ship bound for Virginia, he 
was arrested by the sailors, taken to Cowes, and sent 
to the Tower. It is said that Milton aided him in 
obtaining his release, which kindness Davenant is said 
to have repaid when the Restoration changed their 
respective positions. Davenant for some years managed 
a theatre, and was made poet laureate on the death 
of Ben Jonson. 

GONDIBERT. 

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



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65 



"Gondibert" is the chief poem associated with his 
name. It is a tedious heroic poem, without life or cha- 
racter, and was written while an exile in France. His 
" Miscellaneous Poems" are specimens of that lively, 
fanciful, elegant, and tender poetry that was so popu- 
lar at court. His complimentary verses to the Queen 
Henrietta Maria are unequalled. 



SIR JOHN DENHAM. 
1615-1668. 

Sir John Denham was born in Ireland, his father 
being at the time Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer. 
When a young man he made the acquaintance of some 
of the dissolute young cavaliers, amongst whom he 
gambled away the fortune left him by his father. He 
was engaged in secret services for Charles the First ; 
but being discovered, he had to escape to France. At 
the Restoration he received, like all the prominent 
members of the Royalist party, advancement and reward. 
He rapidly rose in fortune and favour. He was made 
a Knight of the Bath, and surveyor of the royal 
buildings. 

COOPER'S HILL. 

A descriptive poem, suggested by the scenery of the 
Thames, "Windsor forest, and the plains of Runnymede. 
The versification is characterized by considerable smooth- 
ness and ingenuity of rhythm, with here and there a 
passage of some force and beauty. It holds a conspicuous 
place among the selections of the present day. 



HENRY KING. 
1591-1669. 

Chaplain to James I., and afterwards Bishop of 
Chichester, to which office he did honour by his learning, 
accomplishments, and benevolence. 

sic VITA. 
THE DIRGE. 

F * 



66 



Handbook of 



Known best as a religious writer. The above is a 
specimen of his lighter verse. The first contains the 
well-known lines commencing, " Like to the falling of a 
star." The latter is an exquisite poem of six verses, 
on the existence of man's life. 



HENRY VAUGHAN. 
Born in Brecknockshire, and educated for a lawyer, 
which profession he followed for some time, when he 
took to physic. He wrote 

SACKED POETRY, 

which possesses considerable merit, and displays a deep 
feeling of genuine piety. It is nevertheless marked 
with all the faults and exaggerations of the time. 



ROBERT HERRICK, 
1591-1674, 

The son of a goldsmith, was born in London, and 
educated at the University of Cambridge. He was 
a country clergjrman, being vicar of Dean Prior, in 
Devonshire, for twenty years. 

He was an intimate friend of Ben Jonson, and after 
being ejected by the Parliamentarians from his living 
in Devonshire, he came up to London and published his 
poems under the title of 

HESPERIDES. 

His poems are full of that incongruous conjunction 
of sacred and amatory themes which Donne's works 
are famous for. Herrick claims a distinguished place 
among the minor poets, for the dewy freshness of his 
imagery and the graceful simplicity of his diction. 
" Gather ye Rosebuds " and " Cherry ripe," well-known 
popular songs, emanated from his pen. 

Por all the poetry of his thoughts and the freshness 



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67 



of his language, the publication of the " Hesperides " 
was not altogether "becoming in one following the pro- 
fession of a Christian minister. Though scarce a 
vestige of the nobler feelings that should actuate 
the true poet is to be found in Herrick, whose verses 
are the mere poetry of pleasure worship, still some of 
his verses are replete with tenderness, and moralize in a 
pleasing strain. As a specimen of his better poems 
may be mentioned the verses " To Daffodils," in which 
there is a pathos of the most touching kind. 



Was born in London. His father, a notary, had him 
carefully nurtured and educated under a private tutor, 
till the age of twelve, when he was sent to St. Paul's 
School, and thence to Christ's College, Cambridge. He 
took his degree of M.A., but, relinquishing all idea of 
following divinity or law, he left Cambridge, and went 
to live with his. father in Bucks. 

In 1637 he went abroad, visiting the chief Italian 
cities, and making the acquaintance of Grotius and 
Galileo. In 1641 he engaged in the controversies of 
the times. After the execution of Charles I., he was 
appointed Latin secretary to the Council of State. In 
his new position, his pen was as terrible as Cromwell's 
sword. Unceasing study had affected his eyesight, and 
about 1654 Milton became quite blind. After the 
Restoration he retired from affairs. He had rendered 
himself obnoxious to the reigning power, and it is said 
that he was once in custody of the serjeant-at-arms. 



ODE ON THE NATIVITY. 

L' ALLEGRO and IL PENSEROSO. 

COMUS. 

PARADISE LOST. 
PARADISE REGAINED. 
SAMSON AGONISTES. 



The " Ode on the Nativity" has been pronounced by 




JOHN MILTON, 
1608-1G74, 



F 2 



68 



Handbook of 



Hallam to be "perhaps the finest ode in the English 
language." It is somewhat rugged in diction in many 
of the stanzas, but, taken on the whole, Mr. Hallam is 
right. 

"Comus " is a masque, founded on the following plot. 
" A beautiful lady, lost in a wood, is brought under the 
spells of the magician, Comus. Her fate seems sealed, 
until a kindly spirit, appearing in guise of a shepherd to 
her brothers, who are vainly seeking their sister, gives 
them a root called haemony, by means of which they 
set at defiance the power of the enchanter. They dash 
into the palace, interrupt the progress of a delicious 
banquet, save their sister, and put to flight Comus and 
0 his attendant rabble." The masque was acted at Ludlow 
Castle by the children of the Earl of Bridgewater, then 
President of Wales. 

" L' Allegro " and " II Penseroso " are companion 
pictures, depicting the various lights and shades of 
mirth and pensiveness. 

" Paradise Lost " and " Paradise Regained " are the 
greatest works of this gifted author. " Paradise Lost " 
was originally planned as a mystery ; then some idea of 
treating it as a drama entered the author's mind. The 
idea was conceived during a journey into Italy. He 
was blind when he composed it, and it was written by 
his wife and two daughters from his dictation. He 
published this poem in 1667, and sold it to a bookseller 
for five pounds at first, a similar sum when thirteen 
hundred copies had been sold, and as much for every 
subsequent edition which should be published. Milton 
received about fifteen pounds in all, and his widow sold 
the remainder of the copyright for eight. The common 
supposition, that the sale of the work was extremely 
slow, is erroneous. Within two years from the date of 
publication, thirteen hundred copies had been sold, and 
the second edition was exhausted before 1678. " The 
name of Milton was too hateful in Royalist ears to allow 
of his admirers giving public expression to their feel- 
ings under the Stuarts. Addison's papers in the ' Spec- 



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69 



i . tator ' first made the ' Paradise Lost ' known to a 
large number of readers, and established it as a 
household book and an English classic." It is in 
blank verse, and is the first considerable specimen of 
that kind of poetry, apart from the drama. It is 
I divided into twelve books, and relates, with the greatest 
I dignity of thought and language, the circumstances 
j of the fall of man, not only as far as these can be 
gathered from the Scriptures, but with the advantage 
1 of many fictitious incidents, which in the course of 
| time had sprung up, or which the imagination of the 
j jDoet supplied. 

" Paradise Regained " is a shorter epic, in four 
books. It describes the temptation and the triumph 
of our Saviour, and is said to have been preferred by 
the poet himself to his grander work. It is, however, 
inferior, both in style and interest, to its predecessor, 
probably on account of the less poetical nature of the 
subject. The authorship of so fine a poem would have 
made Milton a famous poet had he written nothing 
else. 

" Samson Agonistes " is a dramatic poem, after the 
manner of the old Greek tragedies. It relates the 
story of Samson's captivity and final revenge upon 
his oppressors. " It was the last great sun-burst 
of Milton's splendid poetic genius. Such a theme 
possessed an irresistible attraction for the mind of an 
intellectual and imaginative Samson, himself smitten 
with blindness. " 



ANDREW MARVELL, 
1620-1678, 

Milton's friend and Latin secretary, who fi ads his 
chief place among the prose writers, wrote 

POEMS. 

Although there is much that may be called " sorry 



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Handbook of 



writing" in these, there are nevertheless many passages 
of exquisite beauty. Amongst them may be mentioned 
" The Nymph's Description of her Fawn." 



JOHN CHALKHILL, 
1599-1679, 

Was the author of a pastoral romance entitled 

THEALMA AND CLEARCHUS, 

which was published in 1683 by Izaak Walton. 
Little is known of the author beyond what is on his 
tomb in Winchester Cathedral. The scene of the 
pastoral is in Arcadia, and it abounds in romantic 
descriptions and beautiful language. It is, however, 
exceedingly tedious, and the plot is obscure. 



SAMUEL BUTLER, 
1612-1680, 

Was the son of a farmer, and was born at Streasham, 
in Worcestershire. Educated first at the college school 
of Worcester, on leaving which he proceeded to one 
of the Universities. After finishing his education, he 
was appointed clerk to Mr. JefTerys, justice of the 
peace, and in his leisure hours devoted himself to the 
study of music and poetry. After the Restoration he 
was made secretary to the Earl of Carberry, which 
office he held till 1661, and did good service to the 
Royalist cause. Notwithstanding, he died in such great 
poverty that the expenses of his funeral were borne by 1 
a friend. 

HUDIBRAS. 

" Hudibras " was published in 1663, and following 
years. It is a comic poem in short-lined couplets. 1 
The original character is supposed to have been Sir 



English Literature. 



71 



Samuel Luke, one of Cromwell's commanders, with, 
whom Butler spent a few years of his early life. This 
poem, which has become so famous, is in substance a 
satire upon the Puritans, against whom it turned the 
laugh with great effect. It represents a Republican 
officer sallying out for the reformation of the state. 
The character of Sir Hudibras is well drawn, and is 
said to have done more by its poignant shafts of wit 
and ridicule, than any of the other means taken by the 
Royalists. 

The weight, compression, and plenteousness of the 
wit is wonderful. " Butler thinks in witty couplets ; 
argues in them ; he spears his foes with a jest ; he routs 
and drives them into oblivion with unextinguishable 
laughter. His best things have become proverbs. His 
mass of wit has been grated down into common speech, 
and particles of it may be found any day glittering in 
the talk of English ploughmen and artisans." 



JOHN WILMOT, 

1647-1080, 

Earl of Rochester, the wild and profligate minister 
Charles II., wrote some 

SONGS, 

deeply and irretrievably tainted with the vices of his 
nature. Though they are too coarse for circulation in 
these days, they yet live, through passages to be found 
here and there. 



WENTWORTH DILLON, 

1034-1685, 

Earl of Roscommon, and nephew of Strafford. He 
wrote 

AN ESSAY ON TRANSLATED VERSE; 
TRANSLATION OF HORACE'S ART OF POETRY 
MINOR POEMS. 



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His poetiy was said by Pope to be the only unspotted 
poetry of the days of Charles the Second. It is not 
characterized by particular brilliancy, either in thought 
or style. 



CHABLES SACKVILLE, 
1037-1685, 

Earl of Dorset, was rather the patron of literature 
than a writer, It was through his aid that such men as 
Butler. Dryden, and Prior were enabled to rise. He 
held high positions at court, and his verses were only 
thrown off as occasional recreations. One of them, 

TO, ALL YOU LADIES 2s OW ON LAND, 

written the night before a battle at sea, will live as long 
as the Anglo-Saxon element remains, 



EDMUND WALLER, 
1605-1687, 

TTas born at Coleshill. Herts, educated at Eton, and 
afterwards at Cambridge, where at an early age he be- 
came a commoner at King's College. He became a 
politician and poet at the early age of eighteen, when he 
was made a member of Parliament. At first he took the 
republican side, but being detected in plotting against the 
king, he was tried and condemned by the Council of War. 
He was reprieved from hanging, to which he was sen- 
tenced, and after lying in prison a year, was permitted 
to exile himself to France. After a while he returned to 
England and celebrated the glory of Cromwell in a poem. 
Soon after, when Charles II. returned to take the throne, 
Waller addressed to Mm a welcome in verse. He was 
elected M.P. for Hastings, and sat for that place and 
others in successive Parliaments. At eighty years of 



English Literature. 73 

age lie represented a Cornish, borough : for many years 
he lived at Beaconsfield, where he died and was buried. 

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Amongst these poems maybe found such, well-known 
ones as "ToFlavia," " Go, lovely Rose," "To Chloris." 
They consist principally of verses of an amatory cha- 
racter, and are written in a smooth and polished style. 

From the air of liveliness and ease which pervades all 
Waller's poems, one would judge they were struck out 
upon the impulse of occasion ; but it was not the case, as 
he frequently said and wrote things as extemporary 
which had been the result of much previous reflection. 



CHARLES COTTON. 
1630-1687. 

Born in Derbyshire, where his father, Sir George 
Cotton, was possessed of the estate of Ashbourne. At 
the death of his father the estate became his, but it was 
burdened with heavy encumbrances, which, caused him 
to be always in money difficulties. He was possessed 
of an easy-going, light-hearted nature. 

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Most of these are addressed to his friend Izaak Walton, 
who with Cotton angled in the Dove, a noted trout 
stream in his native shire. These poems are full of 
wit, and display a keen appreciation of nature. 



WILLIAM CHAMBERLAYNE. 
1619-1689. 

Born at Shaftesbury, in Dorset, where he practised as 
a doctor and lived a life of retirement, associating little 
with the men of his time. He wrote 

LOVE'S VICTORY; 
PHARONNIPA J 



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two long poems which. Campbell discovered and rescued 
from obscurity, if not from oblivion. The first is a tragic 
comedy, and the latter is an heroic poem, containing 
some charming versification and some fine scenes. They 
are both smooth and polished in style, and display great 
poetical power. 



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75 



FOURTH PERIOD. 



FRENCH INFLUENCE, 

The French, influence, which was brought to bear upon 
English poetry by the Restoration, materially affected 
its character. The Revolution had shown that the 
literature had become a much greater power than it 
had ever been before ; and not only was the stage used 
most unscrupulously as an engine of political warfare, 
but the other forms of prose and poetry were also pressed 
into the service. It is to this, as much as anything, 
that we owe the introduction, by Dry den, of the 
rhyming tragedy, a form of poetical literature which 
was entirely French in its origin. Dryden, the one 
master poet of the time, was the exponent of the French 
influence, which completely changed the style of En- 
glish literature from the quaint, formal, Latinized manner 
of the Elizabethan era, to the idiomatic, melodious, and 
well-balanced style of the French. True, the latter was 
to a large extent cold and lifeless, and marred by an 
intense affectation ; nevertheless, grafted upon the solid 
literature of England, it improved the structure without 
affecting its solidity. 

The chief characteristics which mark the period of 
the French influence are a continued use of French 
words in the place of English, and quotations from 
French authors ; an absence of the more Saxon qualities 
that had distinguished the literature ; an inflated lan- 



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guage, and a pomposity of expression, which contrasted 
strongly with the more homely diction that had hitherto 
prevailed. At the same time, there is a widening in the 
groove in which the poetry had before run, and a 
corresponding freedom from restraint, and a refinement 
given to the mode of construction. 

Dry den's efforts in following and promoting the 
influence of the French models were made principally 
to secure to himself the affection of the court. Charles 
the Second's tastes were decidedly of the Gallic school. 
His long residence in France, while the Commonwealth 
was in existence, had given him tastes and vices which 
for some time became paramount on his return to 
England ; and Dryden devoted his powers to the 
production of such works as would be likely to suit such 
tastes. The vice, immorality, and licentiousness which 
marked the age was, therefore, but capable of inspiring 
the very lowest ideas, and English poetry sank accord- 
ingly under the weight of the degradation which it 
suffered. Says Mr. Reed, " Every pure and noble 
sentiment, every generous emotion, every lofty thought, 
became a jest. ISTow, these are the life of poetry, which 
in its best forms can breathe only in an atmosphere of 
purity; and whenever such cannot be found, it is the 
chief duty of poetry to create it, — to ventilate, as it 
were, a stagnant and corrupted air. The spirit of 
poetry — and, let me add, too, the love of it — is a spirit 
of enthusiasm. Amid the wide-spread corruption, the 
writings of a few poets and not a few of the clergy show 
that all hearts were not defiled ; and that brazen age 
was well described by one of its divines, when he said, 
' To fight against religion by scoffing is the game the 
devil seems to be playing in the present age. He hath 
tryed the power and rage of the mighty and the wit 
and knowledge of the learned, but these have not 
succeeded for the destruction of religion ; and therefore 
now he is making an experiment by another sort of 
enemies, and sets the apes and drollers upon it. And 
certainly there was never any other age in which sacred 



English Literature. 



j things have been so rudely and impudently assaulted by 
the profane abuses of jesters and buffoons, who have 
been the contempt of all wise times, but are the darlings 
and wits of these.' The severe discipline of Puritan 
morality ^once removed, there came quickly in its stead 
a lawlessness whose pride was its freedom from, all 
restraint. Immorality was a thing men boasted of ; 
they took a party-pride in vice. The civil wars had 
also demoralized the people, by breaking up the habits 
and regularity of domestic life. Households were 
destroyed, and their proprietors found a residence in 
taverns ; and, when the causes of such disordered life 
had passed away, the low habits it had engendered 
were left behind. Often, beggared by the wars, the 
sufferers were driven, in the words of as gallant a cava- 
lier as Lovelace, 'to steep their thirsty grief in wine.' " 
It was to please such that Dryden prostituted the 
powers given him, and his rhyming tragedies are, as far 
as morality is concerned, of the very lowest character. 
They failed, however, to attain a hold upon the English 
stage, and thus failed to exercise any material influence 
upon dramatic poetry. In the other forms of literature, 
the French influence was more deeply felt ; in non- 
dramatic poetry particularly so. Happily, the great 
body of the English people remained untouched by 
the vices of the court, and soon manifested a desire for 
better and more moral writings. The next period saw 
a marked improvement in that respect. The form, 
however, remained the same, to the ultimate benefit of 
the literature. The result altogether of the efforts 
made by Dryden, and followed by the other writers of 
the day, was a good one, — a greater freedom was obtained 
in the form of expression, and a more easy and more 
elegant style ; and a style that certainly was more likely 
to attract readers. This it certainly did, and there is but 
little doubt that the period of popular influence which 
commenced soon after was to a large extent owing to 
the fact of the literature being thus lightened, and 
made more readable. 



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The form into -which the poetical literature had been 
moulded by Diyden, was polished and brought to per- 
fection by Pope, the "prince of the Artificial School 
of English poetry." Pope's influence was perhaps even 
greater than Dryden's, for the age in which 'he wrote 
not only saw a greater number of readers and authors, 
but saw a greater acknowledgment of the necessity and 
power of literature as a popular institution. True, the 
impetus was mainly in the prose literature, the writings 
of Defoe being the effect, as well as to a great extent 
the cause, of the change s Long after the change came, 
however, the poetry retained the form into which it 
had been moulded by Diyden. True, when Pope ap- 
peared, poetry had sunk into a languid and feeble 
condition; such men as Addison being sufficient, to 
"keep alive the flame, but not give it any additional 
fervour or brilliancy." After Pope followed a transition 
period, until the Prench school was finally superseded, 
and a new direction given to the public taste, by Cowper 
and others. 



JOHN DXtYDEN. 
1G31-1700. 

The son of a Northampton shire farmer, he received 
the rudiments of his education at Tichmarsh ; from 
thence was admitted a king's scholar at Westminster 
School. In 1650 he was elected to a scholarship in 
Trinity College, Cambridge. After leaving the Univer- 
sity he proceeded to London, under the patronage of 
Sir Gr. Pickering, a faithful adherent of the Protector's. 
Inheriting only a small estate of sixty pounds per year, 
he became an author by profession, turned his attention 
to the stage, and wrote several plays. In 1670 he was 
appointed poet laureate on the death of Davenant, and 
historiographer royal with a salary of £200 a year. He 
then entered into an engagement with the theatres to 
supply them with three plays each year. 



English Literature. 



79 



After the death of Charles II., Dryden changed his 
religion to the Roman Catholic faith, and at the Revolu- 
tion he was deprived of his laureate ship. For more 
than forty years Dryden toiled with his pen for bread. 
The reputation he derived from his writings was great, 
but the remuneration was little. He was often subject 
to the pangs of poverty, and suffered considerabiy 
from the various changes of fortune which characterized 
the age in which he lived. Dryden was the admitted 
chief of his literary contemporaries, and the following 
extract gives us some glimpse into the inner life of men 
of letters of his day : — 

• " Dryden' s life was essentially that of a man of letters. 
He had no taste for field sports, and did not delight in 
rural solitudes ; nor, though he keenly watched the 
conflicts of parties and the development of political 
questions, did he ever mix personally in the turmoil of 
public life. Though not reserved, he was diffident and 
shy, and was far from cutting that brilliant figure in 
fashionable society which Pope, though self-educated 
and a parvenu, succeeded in doing. He rose early, 
spent all the fore part of the day in his own study, 
reading or writing ; then about three o'clock betook 
himself to Wills' s coffee-house, the common resort of 
a crowd of wits, pamphleteers, poets, and critics. 
There, seated in his own arm-chair, which was moved 
near the window in summer and to the fireside in 
winter, ' glorious John ' drank his bottle of port, and 
ruled the roast, the undoubted chief of the English 
literary republic . ' ' 

Dryden died at the age of sixty-nine, and lies buried 
in Westminster Abbey. 

ANNUS MIRABILIS, 

ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL, 

ESLIGIO LAICI. 

THE HIND AND PANTHER. 

TRANSLATION OF VIRGIL. 

FABLES. 

The " Annus Mirabilis" is a poem upon the year of 



80 



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the great fire of London. The next, "Absalom and 
Achitophel," is a marvellous group of satirical portraits, 
drawn with a masterly hand. They include the leading 
statesmen and politicians of the Whig party towards 
the end of the reign of Charles II. The satire was 
suggested by a plot, matured by the busy brain of 
Shaftesbury, for placing on the throne at the king's 
death his natural son, the Duke of Monmouth, to the 
exclusion of his brother, the Duke of York. The story 
of Absalom's rebellion supplied a parallel, singularly 
close in some respects, of which Dryden availed himself 
to the utmost. Absalom is the Duke of Monmouth, 
Shaftesbury is Achitophel, his crafty adviser, and Zimri 
represents Buckingham. 

Most of Dryden' s poems were upon passing events, 
and, therefore, it is no wonder that the important matter 
of his own religious doubts and fears should find 
expression through his pen. The " Religio Laici " 
betokens a mind dissatisfied with its own religion, 
and unable to find amongst many others that which 
it requires. " The Hind and Panther " was written to 
defend his change of faith. It is a charming allegory, 
and " exhibits his new-born affection for the Church of 
his adoption, which he paints as a 6 milk-white hind, 
immortal and unchanged.' The Church of England is 
represented by the panther, 6 the fairest creature of the 
spotted kind ; ' while dissenting sects play their various 
parts as bears, hares, boars, and other animals. In 
spite of the grotesque antithesis involved in making 
wild beasts discuss theology, it affords a splendid speci- 
men of Dryden' s chief quality — his power of reasoning 
in rhyme." 

"Alexander's Feast," better known as the " Ode to 
St. Cecilia's Day," is a favourite work, which cost the 
author but a fortnight's labour. It is well written, 
smooth-polished, and displays Dryden' s thorough mas- 
tery of the English tongue ; and no English poem better 
exemplifies the capabilities of the language than does 
this one. 



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81 



The "Translation of Virgil" occupied three years, 
and brought the poet twelve hundred pounds. It fol- 
lowed some other translations of Latin authors and 
poems from Horace, Ovid, and Theocritus. 

The "Fables" occupied the last two years of the 
poet's life, for which he received fifty pounds. They 
rank among his best works, and consist principally of 
tales from Chancer and Boccaccio ; but it is unfortunate 
that the licentiousness of the originals is rather displayed 
than covered up by the change of diction. 

With Dryden commenced the series of writers to 
whom we have alluded as being imbued with the 
French influence. In spite, however, of Dryden' s faults — 
and they were not few, not the least being his spite and 
bitterness, which gives an unpleasant feeling to the 
reader of his works — he is undoubtedly one of the 
greatest of our English poets. " He was endowed with 
a vigorous and excursive imagination, and possessed a 
mastery over language which no subsequent writer has 
attained. With little tenderness or humour, he had 
great power of delineating character, wonderful ease, 
an almost sublime contempt for mean things, and 
sounding, vehement, varied versification." 

u Dryden lived too much amongst the courtiers, and 
was, moreover, too much of a professional man of letters 
always to care what he wrote ; besides, he was badly 
paid, and was a spendthrift. But he wrote like a 
scholar and gentleman ; and was full of thought, of 
force, of ease, and of strength. His verses sparkle and 
shine and move along with all the majesty and strength 
of men in chain- armour — weighty and nervous, yet quick 
and agile. Hardly any man ever said so many good 
things as Dryden : his lines remain for ever in our 
memory, and are able to preserve the happy thoughts, 
because they are so well polished and turned. He has 
such a command of language, that he can say anything, 
and cover it with the graces of style ; but he seldom 
rises into the purest regions of poetry, like our modern 
and ancient poets, like Spenser, Shelley, or Keats. 



Handbook of 



John Dry den is more of a satirist than a great poet or 
a great teacher ; yet, what he has done he has done so 
well that it can scarcely be surpassed." 



SIR CHARLES SEDLEY. 
1839-1701. 

A Royalist leader, who took a prominent part in 
bringing aJbout the Restoration, wrote some 

SONGS, 

full of the cavalier spirit, and light and sparkling. 



JOHN PHILLIPS. 
1676-1708. 

Son of the Archdeacon of Salop, and educated for 
the medical profession. He wrote 

THE SPLENDID SHILLING, 

and other poems of some merit, in the interval of his 
studies. " The Splendid Shilling" is a parody on and 
imitation of the style of Milton. 



NICHOLAS ROWE. 
1673-1718. 

Though a poet laureate, Rowe is less known by his 
poems than by his plays. He was the friend of Addison 
and Swift, and the favourite of other great men. He 
is the first editor of Shakspeare of any excellence. He 
held several lucrative offices. 



THOMAS PARNELL. 
1679-1718. 

Born of English parents in Dublin. Entering the 
Church, he became, through the influence of his friend 



English Literature. 



83 



Swift, Archdeacon of Cloglier. He resided chiefly in 
London, but died and was buried in Chester. Habits of 
intemperance, into which he was led by grief at the 
death of his wife, hastened his death, 

NIGHT PIECE ON DEATH. 

This is the work which keeps his name alive among 
the poets of England. It is a didactic tale, and 
contains the famous passage which Boswell submitted 
to Johnson with great solemnity as containing a 
blunder. 

To clear this doubt, to know the world by sight, 
To find if books and swains report it right ; 
For yet by swains alone the world he knew, 
Whose feet came wandering o'er the nightly dew. 



JOSEPH ADDISON 
1672-1719. 

Inseparably connected with Steele, who with him 
originated and carried on the " Tatler," Addison is 
almost forgotten as a poet. His chief writings in this 
branch of literature were 

A TRANSLATION OF PART OF THE FOURTH GEORGIC ; 
A POETICAL LETTER TO LORD HALIFAX; 
SOME VERSES IN HONOUR OF THE KING; 
THE CAMPAIGN. 

The latter poem was the one that obtained for him the 
greatest renown. It was written at the request of the 
Lord Treasurer, and is in praise of Marlborough, then 
just returned from his great victory at Blenheim, 



MATTHEW PRIOR, 
1684-1721, 

Is supposed to have been the son of a joiner, and to 
have first seen the light at Wimborne, in Dorsetshire. 

G 2 



84 



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He was brought up by an uncle, who kept a tavern at 
Charing Cross, and was educated at Westminster 
School. On leaving school, he became assistant to his 
nncle, and in that capacity was discovered by the Earl 
of Dorset reading " Horace." The Earl, perceiving his 
genius, sent him at his own expense to St. John's 
College, Cambridge, of which he afterwards became a 
fellow. Prior was presented at court, after leading 
Cambridge, by his noble patron ; and in 1691 was sent 
to the Hague, as secretary to the English Plenipoten- 
tiaries. He filled the same position in the embassy, on 
the Treaty of Byswick, in 1697, and in the subsequent 
year accompanied the embassy to the court of France, 
in the same capacity. In 1701 he entered Parliament, 
and became a zealous politician on the Tory side. In 
1711 he was sent to Paris, on a mission to initiate those 
negotiations which resulted in the Treaty of Utrecht. 
When his political opponents, in 1714, entered upon 
their long lease of power, Prior, for his share of the 
above transaction, was sent to the Tower on a charge 
of high treason. There he was confined for two years. 
He died shortly afterwards, and was buried at West- 
minster Abbey. 

ALMA. 

HENRY AND EMMA. 
SOLOMON. 

TOWN MOUSE AND COUNTRY MOUSE. 
JACK AND JOAN. 

The poem of c 4 Alma" is a philosophical discussion, 
professedly written in imitation of "Hudibras." It is 
chiefly remarkable for its liveliness of style. " Henry 
and Emma " is a paraphrase of the anonymous old 
ballad, " The ISTut-brown Maid." "Solomon" is a. 
moral poem, upon which he bestowed the greatest 
pains, and which he deemed the finest of his pro-, 
ductions. It is of a serious character and well written, 
abounding in passages of genuine feeling. Prior did 
better, however, in shorter pieces, such as the " Town 
and Country Mouse," and "Jack and Joan." The 



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85 



former was written in conjunction with the Earl of 
Halifax, and is a parody upon Dryden's " Hind and 
Panther." "Jack and Joan " is a mock epitaph upon 
a couple who seem to Lave passed through life in a 
quiet if not satisfactory manner. A spirit of gaiety 
pervades his poetry ; his style is fluent and polished ; 
his epigrams are concise and pointed. His fictions 
and illustrations were mostly derived from ancient 
mythology. 



JOHN GAY. 
1088-1732. 

Born at Barnstaple, in Devonshire. Although of an 
ancient family, his father was in reduced circumstances, 
and Gay was apprenticed to a silk-mercer, in the 
Strand, London. Disliking his occupation, and with a 
taste for literature, he was released from his indentures 
by his master, and took to writing poems. His 
poetical talents soon attracted the notice of Pope and 
the literary celebrities of the time, and obtained for 
him great patronage. He became domestic secretary 
to Anne, Duchess of Monmouth, and in 1714 accom- 
panied an embassy to Hanover, in the same capacity. 
In 1726 he went to live with the Duke of Queensbury, 
and remained with him during the rest of his life, as 
" a humble friend, and domestic joker." " There," 
says Thackeray, " he was lapped in cotton, and had his 
plate of chicken and his saucer of cream, and frisked, 
and barked, and wheezed, and grew fat, and so ended." 
He died of inflammatory fever, after an illness of three 
days, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. 

TETVIA ; OR, THE ART OF WALKING THE STREETS OF LONDON. 

GAY'S FABLES. 

THE BEGGAR'S OPERA. 

BLACK-EYED SUSAN. 

THE SHEPHERD'S WEEK. 

THE FAN ; in Three Books. 



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" Gay's Fables" are considered the best of bis poetical 
works, and are written in a lively and natural style. 
" The Beggar's Opera" is still occasionally represented, 
but exists, however, mainly in virtue of its songs and 
music. It was written at Swift's suggestion, that he 
should write a Newgate pastoral, in which the characters 
should be thieves and highwaymen. It was produced 
in 1727, and was so much admired for its music, and 
ridicule which it threw on the weak points of many 
human institutions, that it was acted sixty- three nights 
in succession, and has ever since continued to be a 
favourite with theatre-goers. Gay wrote many satirical 
ballads, holding up to ridicule and scorn both persons 
and events. There was nothing bitter or spiteful in his 
satire, however. His ballad of " Black-Eyed Susan" 
possesses the strongest vitality of all that he has done, 
and thrills now and then our theatres and concert 
rooms. Gay had a happy lyrical vein, and could turn 
a stanza on the beauty of woman, and the fascinations 
of the wine- cup, and the fleeting of youth, with con- 
siderable grace. The " Shepherd's Week " contains 
much humour and many entertaining pictures of rural 
life in its true character of rudeness. It was written at 
Pope's suggestion, and to rival some verses of Phillips, 
who had offended Pope. 



THOMAS TICKELL. 
1086-1740. 

Tickell was born near Carlisle. He was sometime 
secretary to Addison, and acted in the same capacity to 
the Lords Justices in Ireland. He it was who under- 
took that translation of the "Iliad " which roused Pope's 
ire against Addison. 

COLIN AND LUCY. 
KENSINGTON GARDENS. 

The ballad of "Colin and Lucy" is still a popular 
one, and is remarkable for its simplicity, elegance, and 



English Literature. 



87 



tenderness. " Kensington Gardens " is an allegorical 
poem, in which the fairies play the principal part, and. 
are represented as building a fairy palace, and laying 
out the adjacent woods. It contains many poetical 
passages, and fixes many pretty conceits about well- 
known spots in the popular resort. 



WILLIAM SOMERVILLE, 

1692-1742, 

A country gentleman of Warwickshire, wrote a poem 
entitled 

THE CHASE, 

in which all the incidents and circumstances attendant 
upon the sport are minutely and vividly described. 
There are some very animated passages, which rise into 
poetry of the highest order. 



RICHARD SAVAGE. 
1697-1743. 

Born in London, the illegitimate child of noble 
parents. The circumstances of his life form a most 
miserable picture ; he sank lower and lower each year 
through debauchery and vice. While confined in 
Bristol gaol, a prisoner for debt, he was found dead 
in his bed. 

THE WANDERER 

is his principal production, and was written during a 
brief time of prosperity, while he was enjoying the 
hospitality and favour of Lord Tyrconnel. 



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FIFTH PERIOD. 



With Defoe prose literature made a start forward and 
attained a position that it had never attained before. 
Though the latest cultivated, it now took the foremost 
place. The earliest literature assumes naturally the 
form of poetry, and in England especially was this the 
case ; long after poetry had been cultivated there was 
but a vernacular prose. Romance found a medium in 
poetry as well as philosophy, and with so long a start 
and so powerful a position, it is no wonder that for some 
time prose writing failed to attain anything like an 
equal recognition with poetry. Nor would it, had not 
the writers who inaugurated the present period of 
popular influence made prose the perfect and exclusive 
medium for the delineation of events of real life. The 
characters and incidents that occurred under daily 
observation found more natural expression in prose. 
The conversation between characters drawn from every- 
day life assumed an appearance of reality when set 
down in prose. To this, therefore, and to the brilliant 
talents of such writers as Defoe, Richardson, Smollett, 
Goldsmith, may be attributed the fact that poetry at 
the end of the seventeenth century had sunk into a 
somewhat feeble condition. The prose, virtually, for the 
time overshadowed it, Alexander Pope may be said to 
have revived the poetic flame. He did more than that, 
however ; he brought to perfection the classic style into 
which the form of English poetry had been moulded 
by Dryden, and gave a tone to our poetical literature 
which is recognized and acknowledged at the present 



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time. Pope's writings are perhaps more quoted than 
those of any other writer. 

With all the faults which characterized the school of 
poetry introduced by Dry den, it yet possessed a certain 
vigour and sense which redeemed it from the obscurity 
into which it would otherwise have fallen. It was power- 
ful enough to bear these defects without being affected 
by them, and to Pope must be given the praise for having 
polished to the extreme the few graces it possessed. 
This extreme almost reached the point of effeminacy 
in its mechanical perfection, and the versifiers that fol- 
lowed him caught with avidity the " trick of melody 
and the neat antithetical opposition of thought." This 
did not, however, last long. So soon as the brilliant lamp 
of Pope ceased to shed its all-powerful light, the imme- 
diate influence of his peculiar style became less, and a 
gradual change took place in popular taste and senti- 
ment. The " cold and clear-cut artificial spirit of that 
classicism " which Pope exhibited, gave way to the 
tendency to seek for fitting forms of expression and 
more natural subjects amongst the emotions and thoughts 
of life. 

This tendency " may be in some measure ascribed to 
the weariness inspired by the eternal repetition of the 
neat and epigrammatic ingenuity which had gradually 
become a mere far-off echo of Pope. Under the in- 
fluence of this weariness, poets began to seek for 
materials in a more direct and picturesque reproduction 
of nature, and endeavoured to give freshness to their 
diction by rebaptizing it in the deep and sparkling 
fountains of our older literature." 

In the writings of Cowper may be traced more 
particularly the progress of such tendency. They are 
full of the real sympathies which spring from human 
nature ; the domestic affections, the convictions of 
religion, and the various events and connections of 
social life, formed the themes of his writings. In 
Crabbe, again, we find a further exemplification of the 
tendency. The passions and emotions of humble life, 



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of the labourer and villager, supply themes for his 
poetic genius to work upon. 

It must not, however, be forgotten that a farther 
revolution took place, inaugurated by Bishop Percy, who 
was strongly impressed with the vast stores of the 
beautiful though rude poetry which lay buried in 
obscure collections of ballads and legendary composi- 
tions, and he devoted himself to the task of explaining 
and popularizing the then neglected beauties of these 
old rhapsodists with the ardour of an antiquary and 
with the taste of a true poet. 

In Sir Walter Scott this influence found its most 
talented exponent. His ;i Border Minstrelsy 1 ' contains a 
large number of the old romance stories taken from the 
" Gresta Eomanoium ; ' and other sources. These he re- 
cast according to his own poetic fancy, preserving as 
far as possible the characteristics of the mediaeval frag- 
ments, but not hesitating, where a blank either in time 
or story occurred, to fill it up according to his own 
imagination. Thus at the commencement of the nine- 
teenth century we find that two in fluences were at work 
upon English poets and English poetry, and the influ- 
ences are being felt now. First, perfection in the art of 
writing and in mere versification. To this the efforts 
of Dryden and Pope largely, if not exclusively, contri- 
buted. Secondly, the bringing of poetic art to bear 
npon romantic subjects instead of mere classical ones. 
And froni this we get the characteristics of the writing 
of our later and living poets — clever writing, as far as 
mere versemaking is concerned, with burning, breathing 
thoughts and words. The poetry of the present day is 
essentially the poetry of the emotions, the passions, the 
hopes and fears of human beings, and the scenes are 
drawn not from the classic regions peopled by gods 
and goddesses, shepherds and shepherdesses, but from 
the world in which we live. This gives it a far higher 
interest : and though the age has produced no poet of 
the calibre of a Milton, no clever elegant versifier like 
Pope, we can boast of poets whose words find an 



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j echo and response in the hearts of millions, because of 
the intense humanity displayed in their strains. These 
I are not wanting in elegance either, for we can boast of 
| some of the most graceful writers that ever wielded the 
poet's quill. 

The taste for poetry has also increased in a like ratio. 
It is no longer the luxury of the few, it is the pleasure 
of the many. It is to be remembered that from the 
time of Chaucer even to that of Pope, poetry was chiefly 
addressed to the court and the higher classes ; the lower 
and less educated cared but little for it ; and no wonder, 
seeing that it soared far above their understandings. 
When, however, the genius and spirit of poetry stooped 
to homely subjects, and touched with magic wand the 
circumstances of every-day life, then there awoke in 
the hearts of the people a response which in its turn 
awoke the slumbering talents of many a poet of the 
affections. Thus the action and reaction went on ; the 
taste for poetry every day increased, and daily did 
homely yet graceful lyrics, breathing the purest senti- 
ment, spring from the hearts of poets. We find, also, 
that this popular appetite for poetry, thus awakened, was 
not entirely satisfied with the comparatively humble 
fare set before it. The higher poets became eagerly 
sought after, and Milton had more readers than he ever 
had before. The popular taste for poetry had been 
raised to the standard. 

Thus popular influence has, since it obtained recog- 
nition, directed and encouraged poetic literature. The 
likes and dislikes of the court no longer trammel 
the aspirations of genius ; the greater body of the 
public are appealed to ; and varied as its tastes may be, 
numerous as are the sections it may be divided into, 
each with its own peculiar notions and fancies, no writer 
with strength of character, honesty of purpose, and 
vigour of thought and fancy, has yet appealed to it in 
vain — unless, indeed, the higher and nobler sentiments 
engendered by religion and morality have been found 
wanting. 



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ALEXANDER POPE. 
1688-1744, 

Was tlie son of a linendraper in Lombard Street, 
London, where lie was bom. He was reared at a 
sequestered villa in Windsor Forest, to which his 
father had retired with a competence. From his 
earliest infancy he was of a weak and delicate frame of 
body. and. though he lived somewhat beyond the middle 
period of life, he never enjoyed good or vigorous 
health : he was deformed in person and even hunch- 
backed, and on this account was an object of tender 
solicitude to his mother, for whom he entertained 
throughout life the greatest affection. Belonging, as 
he did, to a Catholic family, who were also stanch 
adherents of the Stuarts, he was placed when eight 
years old under the tuition of the family priest : later, 
he was sent to a Catholic seminary at Twyford. and 
soon after the age of twelve he quitted school and went 
to reside with his father at Binfield. He never vras 
a profound or accurate scholar, but he read the Latin 
poets with ease, and had some considerable knowledge 
of French. Italian, and Greek. When sixteen, he went 
to London, where he became acquainted with Congreve, 
Wycherley, Swift, and Addison, who took hi m under 
his protection. At a subsequent period Pope mixed 
a great deal with the fashionable society of the day, 
which exercised a considerable influence on his after life 
and the character of his writings. With the money he 
made by his translation of Homer, Pope bought a villa 
at Twickenham, and five aeres of land. Here u the hours 
which were not given to his desk were spent in laying 
out his flower-beds, and adorning his famous grotto 
with such things as red spar, Cornwall diamonds, 
Spanish silver, and lava from Vesuvius. Here, by the 
gentle Thames, his later years were spent ; here Swift, 
Bolingbroke, Gay, Arbuthnot, and a host of the most 
brilliant men of the day, paid him frequent visits ; and 
it is, at least, one tender trait in the character of a poet 



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who has not had very many kind sayings lavished on 



and a well- cushioned chair in her declining days." At 
j Twickenham were spent his last days : worn down 
with a complication of diseases ; so feeble in body as 
to have to be sewn into stays every morning in order 
to stand alone and erect ; requiring three pairs of 
stockings to make his shrunken legs at all sightly ; 
with his bald head covered with a black velvet cap ; 
afflicted besides with asthma ; but with mind unim- 
| paired, and able to the last to " spin out webs of verse, 
brilliant and deadly;" the poet breathed his last at 
the early age of fifty-six. In disposition Pope was 
exceedingly irritable, and, as a writer, exceedingly 
captious of criticism and jealous of every other writer, 
no matter how insignificant they might be. Notwith- 
standing the high position he attained, he weakly 
descended to the meanness of writing burlesque and 
satirical poems in order to cast ridicule upon those 
authors who possessed less ability than himself. These 
attacks, of course, produced retaliation, and his life 
and sensitive nature were greatly embittered by them. 
He can be forgiven much when it is remembered that 
his life was, as he himself said, " one long disease." He 
was easily offended with the merest trifles, and never 
forgot or forgave them. His literary stratagems, 
disguises, assertions, denials, and misrepresentations 
would fill volumes. Yet, when no disturbing jealousy, 
vanity, or rivalry intervened, he was generous and 
affectionate, and displayed a manly independent spirit. 



ODE TO SOLITUDE. 

PASTORALS. 

WINDSOR FOREST. 

ESSAY ON CRITICISM. 

RAPE OF THE LOCK. 

ELEGY ON AN UNFORTUNATE LADY. 

EPISTLE FROM ELOISA TO ABELARD. 

TRANSLATION OF THE ILIAD. 

THE DUNCIAD. 

ESSAY ON MAN. 

MORAL ESSAYS. 




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Pope's first work, the "Ode to Solitude," was written 
when only eight years of age ; at sixteen he wrote the 
" Pastorals " and the beginning of the " Windsor 
Forest," which, when published a few years after, 
obtained for him great reputation. At twenty- one he 
wrote the " Essay on Criticism," which is allowed to 
be, perhaps, " the finest piece of reasoning poetry " 
that has ever been written. " Of this poem it may be 
said that it at once describes, and is a very fair 
specimen of, what the wits of Queen Anne's reign were 
most captivated by — an epigrammatic turn of thought, 
and a happy appropriateness of expression." It ex- 
cited at the time of its appearance almost an universal 
admiration for its comprehensiveness of thought, the 
justness of the remarks, and the happiness of illus- 
tration which were then attributed to it. Its merits, 
however, are somewhat more moderately estimated at 
the present time. 

The "Rape of the Lock" is a "heroical, comical" 
poem in five cantos, and was suggested by the follow- 
ing circumstance : — Lord Petre had stolen a lock of hair 
from his affianced bride, Miss Arabella Fermor, which 
caused a quarrel between the families, and Pope's object 
was to laugh them together again, and heal up the 
breach which had been occasioned. It failed to effect 
its object, but it made the reputation of the poet. In its 
original form the incident was described with much 
greater beauty than in the elaborated poem which 
afterwards appeared. A number of supernatural beings 
were introduced, consisting of good and evil genii, who 
are supposed to direct the doings of the human cha- 
racters. It contains more fancy and humour than any 
other of Pope's works. 

The heroine of the " Elegy," whose name has not been 
ascertained, is said to have destroyed herself in France, 
in consequence of her affections being blighted by the 
tyranny of an uncle. This work and the " Epistle 
from Eloisa to Abelard " are the poems which alone 
display deep feeling and passionate writing. 



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Pope was just twenty- four years of age when lie 
commenced the most extensive and the most profitable 
of all his works, the translation of the " Iliad. " It 
was begun in 1712, and finished in 1720. The " Odyssey" 
took him about five years more, in which he was helped 
considerably by his two friends, Elijah Fenton and 
William Browne. The two translations realized a 
considerable sum, of which Pope, after paying all 
expenses, pocketed about £8,000. The translation can 
scarcely be said to be a faithful version. It lacks the 
simple majesty of the great original. "Like Dryden, 
in translating Virgil, Pope did little more than re- 
produce the sense of Homer's verse in smooth and 
neatly balanced English couplets, leaving the spirit 
behind in the glorious rough old Greek, that tumbles 
on the ear like the roar of a winter sea." It does, 
nevertheless, abound in passages which show off the 
translator's best qualities—" terseness, brilliancy, and 
ingenuity." 

The "Dunciad," or epic of Dunces, was first pub- 
lished in 1728, and completed in 1742, by the addition 
of a fourth book. It is directed against the literary 
profession, and writers of the time, including Colley 
Gibber, the poet laureate, and Bentley. It is a specimen 
of the power Pope possessed of satirical writing. It 
contains many passages of the most bitter sarcasm. 

The "Essay on Man," the result of Pope's acquaint- 
ance with Lord Bolingbroke, the libertine and sceptic, 
whose immoral views are reflected in it, is a specimen 
of his great power of versification. Pope's qualities as 
a poet may be summed up thus. As a poet he was 
deficient in originality and creative power, but as a 
literary artist, satirist, and moralizer in verse he is 
unrivalled, and in style " the English Horace," 



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JONATHAN SWIFT. 
1667-1745. 

r Swift takes a prominent position among the prose 
writers ; he, nevertheless, wrote some verses and short 
poems, some of which find admirers at the present time, 
though, they were principally on passing events. 

MOBNINGk 

THE CITY SHOWER. 
RHAPSODY OX POETRY. 
VERSES OX MY OWX DEATH. 

These are all coarse, graphic, and mostly satirical. 



ROBERT BLAIR. 
1699-1746. 

Born in Edinburgh, was educated for the Church, and 
ordained minister of Athelstaneforcl, Beddingtonshire, 
in 1731, where he lived till his death. He was an ac- 
complished and thoughtful man, and devoted to science, 
which a private fortune enabled him to pursue. 

THE GRAVE, 

a poem written in blank verse, which attained an hon- 
ourable place in the esteem of those capable of appre- 
ciating a masculine though somewhat gloomy force of 
thought and imagery, applied to a profoundly suggestive 
and serious theme. 



ISAAC WATTS. 
1674-1748. 

Born at Southampton. At twenty-four years of age 
he became the assistant minister of an Independent 
congregation at Stoke Newington. Want of health, 
however, compelled him to resign his position, and he 



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found a home in the house of Sir Thomas Abney, one 
of his warmest friends and supporters. 

PSALMS, HYMNS, AND DIVINE SONGS. 

These hymns, which have long taken a high place 
among such literature, are known to almost every one. 
They are simple, yet beautiful, and well suited for the 
purpose for which they were written, namely, the 
worship of praise. 

JAMES THOMSON. 
1700-1748. 

Born at Ednam, in Roxburghshire, and educated first 
at the grammar-school of Jedburgh, and then at the 
University of Edinburgh, which he entered with the in- 
tention of studying for the Church. Discouraged by an 
unfavourable professional criticism of one of his exer- 
cises — the paraphrase of a psalm in brilliantly figurative 
language, which he was told was unsuitable for the 
pulpit — Thomson resolved to devote himself entirely to 
poetry, and repaired to London as the most promising 
field for the exercise of his talents. In 1731 he set out 
to travel through France, Switzerland, and Italy, with 
the son of Lord Chancellor Talbot. On his return his 
patron obtained for him a lucrative appointment in 
Chancery, which he lost at the death of the Chancellor. 
He subsequently obtained a pension of £100 per annum 
from the Prince of Wales, and was appointed besides to 
the office of Surveyor General of the Leeward Islands, 
from which he drew about £300 a year. He lived 
latterly in a pretty cottage at Richmond, and though 
slothful in fche extreme, was a very amiable and benevo- 
lent man. He died of a cold caught while sailing upon 
the Thames. 

THE SEASONS. 
LIBERTY. 

THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE. 

The first of " The Seasons," " Winter," was written 
when, without money or friends, he first walked London 

H * 



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streets. He received for it the large sum of three 
guineas. It quickly attracted notice, however, and 
attained such success as justified the production of the 
rest. The first edition was speedily run through, and 
each succeeding one received such correction at the 
hand of the author, that the third became almost a 
new work. Many passages in this beautiful and well- 
known poem display glorious pictures of natural 
scenery. It is eminently original both in style and 
matter. It is written in blank verse, and, as the title 
betokens, it describes the various appearances of the 
year as the months roll by. 

" Liberty" is a long poem, which, while it contains 
some fine passages, never became popular. 

" The Castle of Indolence," designed as a kind of 
satire on his own soft and lethargic character, is 
nevertheless the most perfect, and perhaps the most 
poetical of all his compositions. It is in the form 
of an allegory, and is written in Spenserian stanzas. 
The dwellers hi the enchanted castle are all steeped 
in drowsy luxury by a magician's spell, which is 
broken by a knight named Industry. The moral of 
the tale is, however, lost in the delicious life of in- 
dolence pictured so invitingly, and in lines which roll 
in " dreamy music on the ear, soothing with a soft and 
sleepy charm." 

Thomson was possessed of a true poetical, but not 
an imaginative, genius : he had the power of viewing 
everything in a poetical light. His chief fault is such 
a cloud of words that sometimes the sense can hardly 
peep through : he is remarkable, however, for purity of 
diction and wonderful harmony of rhythm. 



AMBROSE PHILLIPS. 
1G75-1749. 

Born in Shropshire, and educated at St. John's 
College, Cambridge. He incurred the enmity of Pope, 



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who bitterly satirized him, and got Gay to do so as 
well. He also obtained for himself the nickname of 
ISTamby-Pamby, on account of the complimentary verses 
he was fond of addressing to his friends and their 
babies. 



These, though highly praised in his own day, have 
not succeeded in obtaining a hold upon successive 
generations ; they are, probably, scarcely now read, 
though they possess some merits, and picture rustic 
scenes with some delicacy and appreciation. 



Was born at Chichester, of humble parentage, and 
was educated at Winchester and Oxford. At an early 
age he went to London, but, like many brother poets, 
his literary exertions were insufficient to preserve him 
from penury and debt. He was subject to fits of 
mental depression, which terminated in insanity, and 
he died in a lunatic asylum in the thirty- sixth year of his 
age. For some time before his death, he might have 
been seen wandering among the aisles of Chichester 
Cathedral, accompanying the music with his sobs and 
his moans. 



"The Passions" is undoubtedly one of the finest 
odes in the language. The personification of the 
Passions is true and striking, and the variation of the 
measure is well adapted to the various emotions to be 
expressed. Collins was possessed of a rich imagination, 
but his writings are deficient in pathos. The composi- 
tion is most finished and harmonious. 



PASTORALS. 




WILLIAM COLLINS, 
1720-1750, 



ODE ON THE PASSIONS. 
ODE TO EVENING. 

ODE ON HIGHLAND SUPERSTITIONS. 
DIRGE IN CYMBELINE. 



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ALLAN RAMSAY, 
1686-1758, 

Was born at Leadkills, a village in Lanarkshire. He 
commenced life as a wig-maker in the city of Edin- 
burgh, where he afterwards became a bookseller, and 
established the first circnlating library in Scotland. 
He lived during the latter period of his life at a small 
quaint house called Ramsay Lodge, and situated on the 
Castle Hill. 

THE GENTLE SHEPHERD. 
THE YELLOW-HAIRED LADDIE. 
LOCHABER NO MORE. 

The pastoral drama of " The Gentle Shepherd " is 
the work on which his reputation chiefly rests. It was 
firsb published in 1725, and is written in the north 
country dialect. The drama presents the rustic cha- 
racters in their every- day life, and makes them talk 
in their own language. It contains much natural 
writing and feeling, and many descriptive passages of 
great beauty and fine poetic tenderness. It is without 
doubt the finest existing- drama of its kind. The songs 
that he wrote prove that he was skilful in the art of 
ballad writing. He collected the popular songs of his 
native country, and published them. Two of his best 
lyrics are mentioned above ; they are especially dear to 
the Scottish heart. 



JOHN DYER. 
1700-1758. 

Born in Caermarthenshire, and educated at West- 
minster School. He was intended for the law, but 
abandoned that study for painting. He travelled in 
Italy, and on returning home in bad health, took orders, 
and obtained some ecclesiastical preferment. 

GROXGAR HILL. 

THE FLEECE. 

THE RUINS OF ROME. 



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The first is remarkable for simplicity, warmth of 
feeling, and exquisite descriptions of nature. " The 
Fleece" is a didactic poem, and "The Ruins" is a 
| poem abounding in isolated beauties. 



WILLIAM SHENSTONE. 
1714-1768. 

Born at Leasowes, in Shropshire, educated at the 
grammar-school at Hales-Owen, and at Pembroke 
College, Oxford. He never took up any profession, but 
lived on his own estate with his tenants, who were 
distantly related to him. He spent his estate in 
adorning it, and his death was hastened by his anxieties. 

THE SCHOOLMISTRESS. 
PASTORAL BALLAD, 

His poetical works are particularly distinguished by 
elegance and simplicity. " The Schoolmistress" is a 
descriptive sketch, after the manner of Spenser. The 
" Pastoral Ballad " is one of the finest poems of that 
kind to be found in the English language. It is written 
with great smoothness of diction, and displays much 
tenderness. 



CHARLES CHURCHILL. 
1731-1764. 

Born at Westminster, educated at Westminster 
School. He was ordained in 1756, and two years after- 
wards was curate of St. John's, Westminster. While 
in that position he fell into habits ill becoming his 
clerical character, and neglected the duties of his office. 
He was a constant attendant at theatres, and led a most 
dissolute life. His parishioners were scandalized, and 
the dean remonstrated ; whereupon, to show his utter 
contempt of the ministerial profession, he appeared in 
church in a blue coat and gold-laced hat. He was 
compelled to resign his curacy, the pecuniary sacrifice 



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being little, as his works brought him in considerable 
sums. He died at Boulogne whilst on a Visit to Wilkes, 
his boon companion. 

THE ROSCIAD. 

THE APOLOGY. 

THE PROPHECY OF FAMINE. 

A SCOTS PASTORAL. 

The first is a satire on theatrical managers and 
performers, displaying much critical acumen, clever 
sarcasm, and humour. The object of it was to hold up 
to ridicule the defects of the principal London actors, 
as well as the characters of a number of gentlemen 
who interested themselves in theatrical affairs. " The 
Apology" is a bitter satire on some of his critics, 
which added alike to his purse and his notoriety. " The 
Scots Pastoral " is one of the best of his satires. 

Churchill was a man of " coarse feelings and low 
habits ; but his powers as a satirist were so very great, 
that, if he had exerted them on subjects of general and 
permanent interest, his writings could hardly have failed 
to secure a lasting reputation." 



EDWARD YOUNG, 
1681-1765, 

Was born at Upham, where his father was rector. 
He was educated at Winchester and Oxford ; at the 
latter he obtained the degree of doctor of laws in 1719. 
Taking holy orders, he was presented with the living 
of Welwyn, in Herts, having previously been appointed 
chaplain to George II. 

NIGHT THOUGHTS. 
UNIVERSAL PASSIOX. 

The first-mentioned is the poem to which he chiefly 
owes his fame, and is as pre-eminently original as it is 
unquestionably a work of great poetical genius. Dealing 
with the most momentous subjects that can occupy the 



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human imagination, Life, Death, and Immortality, it 
will always exercise for serious readers a power entirely 
independent of its literary merit ; but no reader can 
fail to be struck by the knowledge of life and character, 
the striking imagery, the variety of illustration, and 
the occasional bursts of fancy and sublimity with which 
the poet expresses and embellishes his theme. On the 
other hand, a gloomy tone pervades the poem, and it 
gives a " distempered view of human life." 



MICHAEL BRUCE, 
1740-1707, 

A schoolmaster, born at Portmoak, Kinross, wrote 

ELEGY OX SPRING; 
LOCHLEVEN. 

Both of these poems display great genius and poetic 
vigour. In the former he most pathetically laments and 
describes his almost certain premature dissolution. 



MARK AKENSIDE, 
1721-1770, 

Was the son of a butcher at New castle-on- Tyno ; 
he was educated for the medical profession, and took 
his degree of M.D. at Leyden. He practised as 
a physician first at Northampton, and afterwards in 
London. His chief support was, however, derived 
from the liberality and kindness of a friend. He died 
suddenly of putrid sore throat. He was an exceed- 
ingly vain and irritable man. 

PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION. 

This poem was published when the author was but 
twenty- three years old ; it is full of " fine imagery, 



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expressed in rich, musical language." It possesses 
great vigour and power, and is in advance of the age 
in the poetical genius which it displays. 



CHRISTOPHER SMART. 
1722-1770. 

Educated as a clergyman, he afterwards sold his 
college fellowship to pay his debts, and went to London, 
where he settled down. His eccentric and dissipated 
habits, however, compelled his confinement in a lunatic 
asylum. Not so mad, however, that he could not com- 
pose poetry, he wrote verses with the edge of a key 
on the wainscot. He died in the King's Bench prison. 

SONG OF DAVID. 

HUMOROUS AND OTHER VERSES. 

The " Song of David" was written under the con- 
ditions mentioned above. It is by far his best produc- 
tion, and though it affords evident traces of a confused 
and deranged intellect, it yet contains many passages of 
the highest poetic excellence, and " more energetic and 
magnificent poetry than any short poem of the time." 



WILLIAM FALCONER. 
1732-1770. 

Born at Edinburgh, where his father was a barber. 
At an early age he went to sea as a common sailor ; 
the experience which he gained and the hardships he 
had to undergo prepared him for the composition of his 
poem. He was afterwards a midshipman and purser 
in the Royal Navy. Setting sail on a voyage in the 
Aurora, to which he had been appointed, the un- 
fortunate vessel was never heard of after leaving the 
Cape of Good Hope. 

THE SHIPWRECK 

is a descriptive poem, displaying great genius and 



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powerful writing. It relates the sufferings tliat took 
place on board the JBrita?inia, of which he was second 
mate, when wrecked off Cape Colonna. The poet was 
one of three who, out of a large crew, were able to 
make their way from the vessel to the shore. 



THOMAS CHATTERTON, 
1752-1770, 

Was the son of a schoolmaster at Bristol. Educated 
at a charity school ; at the age of fifteen was apprenticed 
to a solicitor ; when seventeen he went to London, feeling 
confident his talents would soon raise him to greatness. 
He launched into politics, hoping his services would 
secure him the support and patronage of the govern- 
ment; but neither by this means nor by his various 
literary labours was he able to keep himself from starva- 
tion. The sudden blasting of those ardent hopes with 
which he had repaired to the metropolis reduced him to 
unutterable despair, and he died from a dose of arsenic 
administered by his own hand before he had attained 
his eighteenth year. 

ROWLEY POEMS. 
KEW GARDENS. 
JELLA. 

TRAGEDY OF GODWIN. 

The " Rowley Poems " consisted of fictitious Kves of 
painters, authors, etc., which he pretended were com- 
posed by one Rowley, a monk of the fifteenth century ; 
but all of which were composed by himself, and written 
upon stained parchments in the old lettering and 
spelling. So great were the ingenuity and genius which 
characterized them, that they passed the judgment of 
some of the competent judges as the productions of 
a fifteenth- century versifier. The forgeries contained 
many passages of the highest poetical excellence, and 
doubtless, had he begun his career under different cir- 



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cumstances, or had he lived to prove his powers to the 
world, he would have taken a high position as a poet. 

" Kew Gardens" is a satire inferior in every respect 
to his celebrated forgeries. It is written in the style of 
Churchill, possessing all that master's vigour, with every 
now and then a couplet turned with the felicity of 
Pope. 



THOMAS GRAY. 
1710-1771. 

A Londoner by birth, being born on Cornhill, the 
son of a money scrivener of not very good repute. He 
was educated first at Eton, and afterwards at Cambridge 
as a pensioner. On leaving the latter he accompanied 
Horace Walpole, son of the prime minister, on his 
travels through France and Italy. After spending a 
year or two abroad, Gray returned to England, and 
went to Cambridge to take his degree in civil law ; and 
in 1768 he was made professor of modern languages 
and history in that university. He died of gout in the 
stomach while in Wales. In disposition he was gentle 
and retiring, and in temperament inclined to melan- 
choly. 

ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD. 
PINDARIC ODES. 
THE BARD. 

PROGRESS OF POETRY. 
ODE TO SPRING. 
HYMN TO ADVERSITY. 

Gray is one of the most learned of the poets, and all 
his pieces evince the exquisite refinement of his taste, 
though, with the exception of his " Elegy," his poetry 
has never become popular. He is best known by ibis 
w^ork, " whose solemn stanzas roll out their muffled 
music like the subdued tolling of a great minster bell. 
Corrected and reconnected line by line, as were all this 
poet's works, it yet shows no sign of elaboration — its 
melancholy grace is the perfection of art." It was 



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about seven years in composition, and became popular 
immediately on publication. In the " Progress of 
Poetry " Gray's genius manifests itself in a strength 
and dignity which has been said to be little inferior to 
Milton. The same may be said of " The Bard : " the 
last of his race is represented as standing on a crag 
that overhangs the pass through which King Edward 
and his army are defiling, and invoking ruin on the 
race and name of the oppressor of his country. At 
the conclusion of his hymn of vengeful despair he 
flings himself into the sea. The lyrics of Gray 
" display the superior qualities of fancy and tenderness, 
and, perhaps, owe most of their success to the strong 
sympathy which the poet everywhere manifests with 
the joys and sufferings of human nature." 



TOBIAS SMOLLETT. 
1721-1771. 

Eminent as a prose writer and novelist, he yet 
claims a place among poets by virtue of his 

ODE TO LEVEN WATER, 

which, with other poetical pieces, displays great delicacy 
and finish and poetical vigour. The sentiments and 
feelings portrayed are of the highest order. 



OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 
1728-1774. 

The chief poems of Goldsmith, who takes a foremost 
place among English prose writers, are : — 

THE TRAVELLER; 

THE DESERTED VILLAGE. 

The former is a descriptive piece of writing, of the 
very highest character and merit. It abounds also in 
contemplative passages. It is much in the fine manner 



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of Pope. The " Deserted Village " contains some 
happy delineations of rural life and character, and 
displays much grace and simplicity. The village 
Auburn of the tale is a picture of his old home at 
Lissoy, in Ireland. 



ROBERT FERGUSSON. 
1751-1774. 

Born at Edinburgh, where he followed the profession 
of lawyer s clerk. 

GUID BRAID CLAITH. 

TO THE TRON KIRK BELL. 

Had this poet lived, he would doubtless have taken a 
very high position among the describers of city life. 
The above display great genius, though they are of the 
most homely and rugged character. 



JOHN ARMSTRONG, 
1709-1779, 

A native of Scotland and a physician, was the author of 

THE ART OF PRESERVING HEALTH, 

a poem of some excellence, written in a didactic manner, 
and intended to convey in a poetic form some rules and 
laws concerning sanitary science. 



SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
1709-1784. 

Claiming a first place among the prose writers, he 
yet deserves mention among the poets as the author of 
poems entitled : — 

THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES; 
LONDON: A SATIRE; 
MISCELLANEOUS VERSES, 



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109 



His poetry is not, however, equal to his prose, yet 
the " Yanity of Human Wishes" has a moral impres- 
siveness that belongs to few writers since the time of 
Pope. It has been remarked that, while his prose and 
conversation abounded in metaphor, he has introduced 
but little of that kind of illustration into his poems. 



WILLIAM JULIUS MICKLE, 
1734-1788, 

Born in Dumfriesshire, is known by his 

ORIGINAL POEMS, AND A 
TRANSLATION OF THE LUSIAD. 

The poems are marvels of versification, beyond which 
they have little to recommend them, being almost des- 
titute of poetical excellence. The " Translation of the 
Lusiad " of Camoens, a Portuguese poet, is well and 
poetically done. 



JOHN LOGAN. 
1748-1788. 

Born at Soutra, in Midlothian, where his father 
rented a small farm. Educated at the school of 
Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, and at the University 
of Edinburgh. In 1768 he took a situation as private 
tutor, but returned to Edinburgh with a view of enter- 
ing the Church. In 1770 he was admitted preacher, 
and in 1773 was invited to the pastoral charge at 
South Leith, which he accepted. 

ODE TO THE CUCKOO. 

THE BRAES OF YARROW. 

ODE ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG LADY. 

THE LOVERS. 

Logan deserves a very high rank among our minor 
poets. The chief character of his poetry is the 



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pathetic. His works are full of passages of true 
poetic spirit aud sensibility. 



JAMES MACPHERSON. 
1738-1796. 

Born at Kingussie, in Inverness-shire. Was educated 
at King's College, Aberdeen, and afterwards became a 
schoolmaster in his native village. In 1764 he was 
appointed surveyor- general of the Eioridas, with a 
salary for life, and agent to the Nabob of Arcot in 
1779. In 1780 he entered parliament as M.P. for Camel- 
ford, and sat for ten years. He afterwards retired to an 
estate which he bad purchased at Belleville, in Inver- 
ness-shire, where he lived during the remainder of his 
life. 

THE HIGHLANDER. 

TINGAL. 

TEMOEA. 

Macpherson was a Scottish Chatterton. The two 
latter poems are epics, and he professed to have 
translated them from materials discovered in the 
Highlands of Scotland : the opinion is general that he 
. " discovered them in his own desk, written on his own 
paper, with his own pen." They are pictures of the 
old Celtic life, drawn in strong and florid colours, and 
are full of stirring incidents. 



ROBERT BURNS, 
1759-1796, 

Was born near Ayr, in Scotland, the son of a farmer. 
The straitened circumstances of his father rendered 
it necessary that his children should contribute to 
their own support at a very early age, and Burns has 
himself told us that " the cheerless gloom of the hermit, 
with the unceasing moil of the galley-slave," brought 



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Ill 



him to his sixteenth year. After the death of his 
father in 1781, he took a small farm, which did not 
prove a prosperous undertaking. He resolved then to 
go to the West Indies. Partly to procure the means of 
paying his passage, he published a collection of poems 
I which he had composed. The reception these met 
with was highly favourable, and while he was pre- 
! paring to embark, he received a letter encouraging 
him to go to Edinburgh and issue a new edition. This 
! was the turning point of his life. During his stay in 
| the Scottish metropolis he associated with all who were 
! eminent in letters, rank, and fashion. The profits 
! of the publication were considerable, and enabled him 
; to take a farm near Dumfries, where he settled in 1788. 
With his farm he conjoined the office of an excise- 
man ; but after three or four years he was obliged to 
give up farming, and from that time lived in Dumfries, 
dependent on his salary. 

Having by some unguarded expressions on the French 
Revolution incurred the displeasure of government, 
his hopes of promotion were blasted, and caused him 
to be shunned by those who had before fete d him. The 
bitterness of his feelings was aggravated by his 
declining health. Tortured by anxiety, harassed by 
poverty, and a slave to the vice of intemperance, his 
brief though brilliant career was terminated at the 
early age of thirty- seven. 

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS AND SONGS. 

Burns is most known by his songs. " The Twa 
Dogs," "The Jolly Beggars/' " Tarn O'Shanter," and 
"Halloween" are among the best specimens of his 
humorous and descriptive poetry ; and in serious com- 
position "The Cotter's Saturday Night" is a beautiful 
picture of rustic home life. " 0 Mary at thy window 
be " is a charming example of the lyrical force and 
sweetness to be found in his love songs. The lines to 
a " Daisy " and a " Mouse " are among the earliest of his 
poems, and were written while he was a ploughman : 



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" they are true wild flowers, touched with a fairy grace 
aud breathing a delicate fragrance, such as the blossoms 
of no cultured garden can ever boast." " Tarn 
O'Shanter" is a serio-comic tale, describing a market- 
day carouse and ride through a storm at midnight. 
The vigorous thought, the felicitous expression, the 
pathos, the passion, which characterize the poetry of 
Burns, have placed him in a high position among 
English poets. 



WILLIAM MASON. 
1725-1797. 

Born in Yorkshire, and educated at Cambridge, 
where he made the acquaintance of the poet Gray, 
which acquaintance ripened into the closest friendship, 
and continued till the death of the latter. 

THE EXGLI3H GARDEX, 

a blank-verse poem in four books, which contains some 
pretty passages and pictures. 



THOMAS WARTON. 
172S-1800. 

Was born at Basingstoke, educated at a private 
tutor's, under his father's eye, till he went to Oxford. 
In his sixteenth year he was admitted a commoner of 
Trinity College, and soon after was elected a scholar. 
He lived at Oxford for forty-seven years, with very 
few intervals. In 1757 he was elected Professor of 
Poetry at Pembroke College, in which office he suc- 
ceeded his father. He held it for ten years. In 1767 
he took his degree of B.D., and in 1771 was elected a 
fellow of the Unitarian Society. In October, the same 
year, he was instituted to the living of Kiddington, in 
Oxfordshire, where he remained till 1782, when he 
was presented by his college to the donative of Hill 



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113 



| Farrance, in Somersetshire. In 1785 he was chosen 
Camden Professor of History, and offered the post of 
poet laureate, which he accepted. He died somewhat 
suddenly, from a paralytic stroke at Bath, in his sixty- 
second year. 

THE TRIUMPH OF ISIS. 

NEWMARKET. 

THE SUICIDE. 

THE PLEASURES OP MELANCHOLY. 

In general, Warton seems to have taken Milton for 
! his model. His descriptive pieces are full of originality. 
Nothing can be more natural, just, or delightful, than 
his pictures of rural life. The only objection which 
i some critics have stated is, that his descriptions are 
not varied by reflection. He gives an exquisite land- 
scape, but does not always express the feelings it 
creates. 



WILLIAM COWPER, 
1731-1800, 

Was born at Great Berkhampstead ; his father was 
Chaplain to George II., the nephew of a Lord Chan- 
cellor, and Hector of Berkhampstead. At the age of 
six his mother died, and he was placed at a school in 
Herts until he was old enough to go to Westminster 
School. After leaving the latter, where he stayed 
seven years, he was articled to an attorney in London. 
After completing his three years' articles he went to 
reside in the Middle Temple, 1752. In 1754 he was 
called to the bar, but never practised. In 1759 he 
removed to the Inner Temple, and soon after his 
settlement there he was appointed a Commissioner 
of Bankrupts. He was afterwards offered the office 
of Clerk of the Journals of the House of Lords, 
which he accepted, but having to undergo an exami- 
nation at the bar of the House, he was seized with 
nervousness and could not appear. At this period the 



Handbook of 



misery engendered by his exceeding nervousness and 
sensitiveness was so great, that he meditated suicide, 
but failed to carry out his intentions for lack of 
courage. In 1763 he was removed to the house of 
Dr. Colton, at St. Albans, a prey to deep religious 
melancholy. On his recovery he removed to Hunting- 
donshire, where he became a boarder in the house of 
the Rev. Mr. Unwin. In 1773 he went to visit the 
celebrated John Newton, and whilst there his malady 
returned, and for four years he remained in this melan- 
choly condition ; and it was during the interval between 
the second and third attack of this dreadful malady 
that he produced his poems. In 1794 he was again 
afflicted. After lingering on for three years, with a 
few brief intervals of reason, he died. A pension of 
£300 a year from the king placed him above want 
during the latter period of his life. 

THE TASK. 

OLNEY HYMNS. 

JOHN GILPIN. 

TRANSLATION OF HOMES* 

LINES TO HIS MOTHER'S PICTURE. 

The origin of " The Task " was as follows : Lady 
Austen asked him to write some blank verse, and play- 
fully gave him the " Sofa " as a subject. Beginning 
a poem on this homely theme, he produced six books, 
which he called " The Task." It is a humorous his- 
torical sketch of the gradual improvement of seats, 
the three-legged stool growing into the softly cushioned 
sofa. The pleasures of a country walk are then touched 
on ; and he draws a strong contrast between rural and 
city life. In the second book he utters a just and 
powerful denunciation of slavery, and declares the 
blessings and the need of peace among nations. The 
other books are devoted to the following subjects : 
"The Garden," "The Winter Evening," "The Winter 
Morning Walk," and " The Winter Walk at Noon." 
"John Gilpin," now one of the most popular of ballads, 
is founded upon a story told to the poet by Lady 



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115 



Austen, which he immediately turned into verse. A rich 
but quiet humour pervades it, and indeed constitutes its 
entire merit. The deep religious feeling which tinges 
all his works is displayed, and finds ample scope, in the 
"Olney Hymns." 

The " Translation of Homer " attained a certain 
amount of success. It is, however, by the side of that 
of Pope, somewhat tedious and monotonous, though 
perhaps more faithful. 

Cowper's " Lines to his Mother's Picture " are 
especially deserving of attention. This celebrated 
poem was written more than fifty years after her 
death, which occurred when he was only six years 
of age. It displays much tenderness of feeling and 
vividness of imagination, especially with which scenes 
of the past are represented. It is, however, unequal in 
its power, some passages being trivial and poetically 
worthless. 

Cowper's especial merit lies in the grace with which 
he describes the familiar scenes and thoughts and 
enjoyments of home, in unaffected and unrestrained 
expression. " His language has such a masculine 
idiomatic strength, and his manner, whether he rises 
into grace or falls into negligence, has so much plain 
and familiar freedom, that we read no poetry with a 
deeper conviction of its sentiments having come from 
the author's heart ; and of the enthusiasm, in whatever 
he describes, having been unfeigned. # * He blends 
the determination of age with an exquisite and in- 
genuous sensibility ; and though he sports very much 
with his subjects, yet when he is in earnest, there is a 
gravity of long- felt conviction in his sentiments, which 
gives an uncommon ripeness of character to his poetry." 
Cowper united to a genius which has rendered him one of 
the most original of the British poets, a spirit of fervent 
devotion, and an intense desire to render mankind wiser 
and better by his writings. His poetry is eminently 
healthy, natural, and unaffected. 



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ERASMUS DARWIN. 
1731-1802. 

Born near Newark, in Nottinghamshire, studied first 
at Cambridge and afterwards at Edinburgh, where he 
took his degree. He was a physician by profession, and 
practised with distinction and snccess at Lichfield. He 
had a great reputation as a physiologist, bnt his system 
is, for the most part, inconsequential, baseless, and un- 
tenable. 

BOTANIC GARDEN. 
LOVES OF THE PLANTS. 
TEMPLE OF NATURE. 

The first poem, the " Botanic Garden," was published 
in detached portions between the years 1781 and 1792. 
It consists of an allegorical exposition of the Linnsean 
system of plants. It is a work of some ingenuity, and 
is written in a brilliant and polished manner. In the 
three poems, attempts are made " to give the charms of 
poetry and allegory to scientific subjects." Darwin's 
reputation as a poet was bright but brief. Though he 
had command of language he lacked fancy, and though 
brilliant he was without animation. The subjects that 
he chose to write on are without interest to general 
readers. Still he did something, by the originality of 
his writings and the metaphorical treatment of his sub- 
jects, to awaken a regard for poetry. His works are 
little read at the present time, and what reputation 
he had has greatly declined. 



JAMES BEATTIE, 
1735-1803, 

Was born at Laurencekirk, in Kincardineshire, Scot- 
land, and studied at Marischal College, Aberdeen. In 
1758 he was appointed one of the masters of the 
grammar-school in that city, and in 1760 Professor 



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117 



of Moral Philosophy in Marischal College. After the 
production of his poem he was honoured by the interest 
of the king and queen, who bestowed upon him a 
pension of £200 per annum. He was also made a 
Doctor of Laws at Oxford, and a Member of the 
American Philosophical Society. After some sad do- 
mestic trials and bereavements, he was himself attacked 
with palsy, and died at Aberdeen. 

THE MINSTREL. 

The poem describes the progress of a rustic genius, 
from the first dawning of his poetical fancy till he 
arrives at the period when he is fit to appear before 
the world as a minstrel. It is a delightful poem, and 
overflows with sweet poetic emotion. It is rich in 
picturesque descriptions, while the versification has a 
quiet fulness of melody. It is written in the Spenserian 
stanza. 



HENRY KIRKE WHITE, 
1785-1803, 

Was the son of a butcher, and born at Nottingham. 
At fourteen he was apprenticed to the trade of stock- 
ing-weaving, but disliking it beyond endnrance, he en- 
tered as clerk in an attorney's office. While there he 
made himself acquainted with both Latin and Greek, 
French, Italian, Spanish, and Portnguese. Obtaining a 
silver medal offered by the " Monthly Preceptor," for the 
best translation of " Horace," he resolved to dedicate 
his talents to poetry. In this he was assisted by Mr. 
Capel Sofft, who encouraged him to pnblish a small 
volnme of poems. Southey also helped him, and he 
was enabled to go to Cambridge, where he studied with 
the view of entering the Chnrch. He studied, however, 
so hard, that his health was undermined, and though 
strong medicines enabled him to go through the six 
days' examination, out of which he came the first man 



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of his year, lie gradually sank and died at St. John's 
College. 

CLIFTON GROVE 
REMAINS. 

The former is the principal poem in his first volume, 
and it shows a wonderful proficiency. The character 
of the writing is smooth, and the versification is both 
easy and elegant. In his " Remains," edited by Southey, 
are a number of poems of the most charming kind. 
Kirke White's poetry is by no meana of the highest class, 
nor does it display many marks of great genius, but it 
is so exquisitely tender and touching, and is rich in fan- 
ciful descriptive passages. 



CHRISTOPHER ANSTEY, 

1724-1805, 

Was a gentleman possessed of some considerable 
fortune in Cambridgeshire, in which county he resided. 
He wrote 

THE NEW BATH GUIDE, 

which affords a most vivid description of the life and 
manners of that city in the reign of George III. The 
poem displays great satirical power and wit, but is of a 
licentious character. 



MRS. MARY TIGHE. 
1773-1810. 

Born in Wicklow county, Ireland. She wrote a 
poem entitled 

PSYCHE, 

founded upon the story of "Cupid. and Psyche," in 
Apuleius. It exhibits much that is pleasing in thought 
and style, and is remarkable for its graceful fancy and 
display of imagination. 



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119 



ROBEE.T TANNAHILL. 
1774-1810. 

Born at Paisley. Was in early life a weaver. He 
committed suicide by drowning, after burning all bis 
manuscripts, because of tbe rejection of bis poems by a 
publisber to wbom he bad sent them. 

GLOOMY WINTER'S NOW AWA'. 
JESSIE THE FLOWER 0' DUMBLANE. 

These two specimens of his Scottish songs are of far 
higher merit than any of his poems. They are of a 
most original character, and of great sweetness and 
power. 



THOMAS PEKCY. 
1728-1811. 

Born in Shropshire, and educated at Cambridge. 
He was successively Dean of Carlisle and Bishop of 
Dromore. 

RELIQUES OF ENGLISH POETRY. 

These old songs produced a great effect in awakening 
a taste for the " unaffected strains of simple narrative 
and genuine passion," and to them Scott and other poets 
owe much inspiration. They were revised and often 
supplemented by Percy, and include a great variety of 
ballads, some of which date back to the days of the 
early minstrels. 



JAMES GRAHAMS. 
1765-1811. 

Born in Glasgow, where he followed the profession 
of an advocate at the Scottish bar. He subsequently 



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became a clergyman and curate of Sedgefield, near 
Durham. 

THE SABBATH. 
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. 
SABBATH WALKS. 
BRITISH GEORGICS. 

" The Sabbath " is a poem in blank verse, which 
appeared in an anonymous form and without the 
slightest pretension. It soon, however, obtained the 
approbation which its merits deserved. It contains 
many fine passages, which embody the hallowed asso- 
ciations connected with the day of rest. On its first 
publication, so profoundly had the secret of its author- 
ship been kept, that Graham e had the pleasure of 
hearing the book recommended to him for reading 
by his own wife, while she was still unacquainted with 
the fact that her husband had written it. 

Grahame is not an easy, graceful poet ; and though 
his verse is full of tender and devout feeling, it has 
little vigour or imagination. He has been compared 
to Cowper, but wants that poet's humour, force, and 
depth of poetic passion. 



JOHN LEYDEN. 
1775-1811. 

Born in Roxburghshire, the son of a peasant. By 
virtue of his energy of character and vigour of intel- 
lect, he attained a tolerable position in life. He studied 
for and entered the church, but finding medicine a 
more congenial profession, he gave up his clerical 
duties, and became a surgeon in the service of the 
East India Company. While in India he devoted 
himself to the study of the various Oriental languages, 



English Literature. 121 

j _ 

; and accompanied Lord Minto in his expedition against 
Java. 

POETICAL REMAINS. 

These were published after his death by the Rev. 
James Morton, and the merit they display was soon 
| recognized and acknowledged. Sir Walter Scott was 
among those who admired the poetry, and spoke highly 
of them. 



JOHN KEATS. 
1795-1320. 

Born in London, of obscure birth. In his fifteenth 
year he was apprenticed to a surgeon, but he subse- 
quently abandoned the profession of medicine to follow 
that of literature. 

In 1820 he left England to go to Rome for the benefit 
of his failing health, but the change was of little avail. 
The young poet died of consumption, and was buried 
in the Protestant cemetery there. This consumption 
was brought on by a criticism of his first poem by 
the " Quarterly Review," which so affected him and em- 
bittered his existence, that only the most anxious care 
and watching prevented his committing suicide. As it 
was, he broke a blood-vessel in the lungs, which pre- 
maturely caused death. 

ENDYMION: A POETIC ROMANCE. 

HYPERION. 

EVE OP ST. AGNES. 

LAMIA, ISABELLA, 

ETC. 

"Endymion: a Poetic Romance," displays some bril- 
liant qualities and a most luxurious imagination. The 
" Eve of St. Agnes " is full of rich description, and pos- 
sesses a great charm of romance. 



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Keats gave promise of great excellence, and had he 
lived would have given evidence of the possession of 
rare powers. In those poems in which he confines 
himself to the mythological, Keats is the more success- 
ful. "It would seem as if the severity of ancient art, 
which in the last-mentioned works acted as an involun- 
tary check upon a too luxuriant fancy, deserted him 
when he left the antique world ; and the absence of 
true, deep, intense passion (his prevailing defect) be- 
comes necessarily more painfully apparent, as well as 
the discordant mingling of the prettinesses of modern 
poetry with the directness and unaffected simplicity of 
Chaucer and Boccaccio. But Keats was a true poet. 
If we consider his extreme youth and delicate health, 
his solitary and interesting self- instruction, the severity 
of the attacks made upon him by hostile and powerful 
critics, and above all the original richness and pictur- 
esqueness of his conceptions and imagery, even when 
they run to waste, he appears to be one of the greatest 
of the young poets." 



PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, 

1792-1822, 

Was the son of a we?Jthy baronet, who resided at 
Field Place, in Sussex, at which place he was born. He 
was educated first at Eton and afterwards at Oxford, 
from which he was expelled for atheism, which he 
inculcated in a pamphlet entitled the " Necessity of 
Atheism." Taking up his residence at Mario w, in 
Buckinghamshire, he devoted himself to writing and 
study. After making one unhappy marriage, which 
was dissolved by his wife destroying herself, he married 
again, and his health being delicate and requiring a 
change of air and climate, he went to the south of 
Italy, where he could exercise his favourite pastime 
of boating. One day, as he was returning in his little 
yacht to Leghorn, a squall of wind overtook the little 
craft in the Bay of Spezzia, and it went down. The re- 



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123 



mains of the poet were burnt upon a funereal pile, and 
the ashes buried in the Protestant cemetery at Rome, 

QUEEN MAB. 

ALASTOR ; OR, THE SPIRIT OF SOLITUDE. 
ROSALIND AND HELEN. 
REVOLT OF ISLAM. 
PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. 
MINOR POEMS. 

" Queen Mab " is a poem of undoubted merit, and 
though it contains many passages of wild and ex- 
travagant fancy, it is possessed of a most melodious 
ring. Though full of power and beauty, "it is debased 
in its very grain and groundwork by rank infidelity 
and blasphemy." "Alastor" was written while he 
was residing for a short time in Windsor forest, the 
forest glades of which tended to the conception of so 
gloomy a production. It represents a young man, 
possessed of a most lofty and 'benevolent disposition, 
dying because he cannot meet -with a companion with a 
nature and disposition similar to his own. 

"Rosalind and Helen" is on the subject of ill- 
assorted marriages, which Shelley knew by experience 
to be great. " The Revolt of Islam," " an ideal picture 
of the struggle maintained by an awakened people 
against the beliefs and institutions that it had pre- 
viously held sacred, but which in the heated fancy of 
the poet appeared as the causes of all its misery, was 
published in 1817." It is in twelve cantos, the metre 
being the Spenserian stanza. 

Among his minor poems may be mentioned " The 
Cloud," " The Skylark," and the charming " Sensitive 
Plant," each of which " actually overflow with lyrical 
beauty, both of thought and language." 

Mr. Shaw thus sums up his characteristics : — " By a 
singular anomaly or contrast, Shelley, whose mind was 
so filled with images of superhuman grace and beauty, 
exhibits occasionally a morbid tendency to dwell on 
ideas of a hideous and repulsive character. Like the 
ocean, his genius, so pure, transparent, and sublime, the 



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parent of so many forms of strange and fairy loveliness, 
hides within its abysses monstrous and horrible shapes 
at which imagination recoils. His mode of writing is 
full of pictures, but the images subsidiary to or illustra- 
tive of the principal thought are often made more 
prominent than the thought they are intended to 
enforce. Nay, he very frequently goes farther, and 
makes the antitype and the type change places ; the 
illustrative image becoming the principal object, and 
thus destroying the due subordination of the ornament 
to the edifice it is intended to decorate. Shakspeare's 
miraculous imagination, it is true, seems sometimes 
almost to run away with him ; but when closely studied, 
it will be found that he never fails to keep his principal 
idea always above and distinct from even his wildest 
outbursts of fancy, and ever remains master of his 
thought." 

ROBERT BLOOMFIELD. 
1700-1823. 

Born at Honington, near Bury St. Edmunds, in 
Suffolk, where he followed the occupation of a shoe- 
maker. 

THE FARMER'S BOY. 

RURAL TALES. 

MAY DAY WITH THE MUSES. 

The first of these poems has obtained a great reputa- 
tion. Written under the most adverse circumstances, it 
displays great poetic talent, and is full of passages of 
great beauty. It delineates with great truth and delicacy 
the various phases of country life. 



CHARLES WOLFE. 
1791-1823. 

A minister of the Episcopalian church at Dublin, 
who died of consumption ; was the author of a well- 
known poem, entitled . 

THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE. 



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125 



Its pathos and genuine poetic feeling has secured to 
him a lasting reputation. 



LORD BYRON. 
1788-1824.' 

George Gordon, afterwards Lord Byron, born at 
Dover, was the son of a captain in the Guards, who 
abandoned his wife and child in the streets of London 
and went abroad, where he died soon after. His 
mother retired to Aberdeen, her native place, with her 
little lame son. At an early age he came into the 
possession of Newstead Abbey and the title of Lord 
Byron by the death of his grandfather. He then 
studied at Harrow and Cambridge, where he led a 
dissipated life. While yet in Harrow School he 
formed a passionate attachment for a young female, 
Miss Chaworth, whose father had been killed in a duel 
by Byron's great uncle, after a brawl in an hotel. She, 
however, preferred to Byron a former suitor. The 
disappointment inflicted on Byron a deep wound. 
After quitting the University he threw himself into 
the whirlpool of vice, and undermined his health and 
wasted his substance. He was the soul of riotous 
company, taking part in every game and amusement, 
except dancing, for which he was incapacitated by 
lameness in one of his feet. 

Byron's marriage with Miss Milbanke took place in 
1815. From the beginning there were disagreements, 
and in a twelvemonth the union was dissolved. For 
his conduct to his wife he was much abused by all the 
London papers, and hissed in the streets. 

Becoming disgusted with England, he set out on 
his travels in 1816. He went through Belgium and 
Switzerland, where he became acquainted with Shelley ; 
stopped a long while at Venice and in Tuscany, where 
he was detained by a strong passion for the beautiful 
Countess Guiccioli. While at Venice, Ravenna, and 



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at Home, lie led a most dissipated and irregular life, 
receiving much money for his poems ; but sinking even 
lower down into vice and immorality. In 1819 he 
took an interest in the projects for the political emanci- 
pation of Italy ; and when these failed he devoted 
himself to the cause of the Greeks, for with all his 
excesses he had noble sympathies, and was capable of 
great actions. His generosity was exemplified in the 
devotement with which, going into Greece, he lavished 
his resources on behalf of that classic land, which had 
taken a strong hold of his vivid and impressionable 
imagination. His efforts, however, issued in his own 
death, for he died at Missolonghi, his end having been 
hastened by vexations arising from the internal dissen- 
sions of his Greek allies. 

The personal character of Lord Byron was an extra- 
ordinary "mixture of benevolence and misanthropy, 
and of aspirations after excellence, with a practical 
enslavement to degrading vices. The only key to the 
mystery is to be found in that theory which represents 
the temperament of genius, in its extreme forms, as a 
species of insanity." 

CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE. 

THE GIAOUR. 

THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS. 

THE CORSAIR. 

THE SIEGE OF CORINTH. 

THE PRISONER OF CHILLON. 

MANFRED. 

DON JUAN. 

The production of " Don Juan " placed him imme- 
diately in the front rank of the poets. It is the 
description of a young and satiated libertine, who 
endeavours to rouse himself from the listless and 
melancholy condition into which he has fallen by travel 
in foreign lands. The two first cantos were published 
in 1812, and the poem was completed in 1818. The 
third canto was composed at Geneva, and the fourth at 
Venice. It is written in the style of the Spenserian 
stanza, which suits the character of the poem, which is 



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127 



gloomy and contemplative. "The Giaour," and "The 
Bride of Abydos," were produced in 1813, and are 
written in eight- syllabled lines. "The Corsair" came 
the following year. These are tales of Turkish life, 
and were formed out of the materials gathered during 
his travels. 

" Don Juan," the last great literary effort which 
Byron made, is a licentious but witty and humorous 
tale, which was left unfinished, breaking off at the 
sixteenth canto. It is a strange medley, in which 
satire, narrative, description, and criticism are jumbled 
together without any principle of arrangement, and 
composed in the eight-line stanza. Perhaps no poem 
in the English language shows a greater command 
of the powers of versification. The sentiment of the 
poetry ascends from what is low and lustful to the 
highest purity and sublimity. 

" It stands, a fragment of unfinished toil, a sad 
memento of lofty genius debased to the foulest use. 
Never were shining gold and black mire so industriously 
heaped together. It seems as if the unhappy bard, 
tired of hating his fellow-mortals, had turned with 
fierce mockery upon himself, to degrade and trample 
on that very genius upon which was based his only 
claim to admiration, and which alone can save from 
ridicule his scornful isolation of himself." 

Byron's poetry, like his person, has much that is 
.very beautiful; at the same time it is not free from 
deformity ; and, like his soul, it is full of ungoverned 
passion and extravagant emotion, no less than of 
sublime thoughts and noble aspirations. " He delights 
in the delineation of a certain morbid exaltation of cha- 
racter and of feeling — a sort of demoniacal sublimity. 
He is haunted almost perpetually with the image of a 
being feeding upon, and fed by, violent passions, and 
the recollections of the catastrophes they have occa- 
sioned ; and, though worn out by their past indulgence, 
unable to sustain the burden of an existence which 
they do not continue to animate — full of pride and 



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revenge and obstinacy, disdaining life and death, and 
mankind and himself, and trampling in his scorn, not 
only upon the falsehood and formality of polished life, 
but npon its tame virtues ; yet envying, by fits, the 
selfish beings he despises, and melting into mere soft- 
ness and compassion when the helplessness of child- 
hood, or the frailty of woman, make an appeal to his 
generosity ; a perpetual stream of quick- coming fancies 
• — an eternal spring of fresh-blown images, which seem 
called into existence by the sudden flash of those 
glowing thoughts and overwhelming emotions that 
struggle for expression through the whole flow of his 
poetry, and impart to a diction that is often abrupt and 
irregular, a force and a charm which seem frequently 
to realize all that is said of inspirations." 



WILLIAM GIFFOKD. 
1756-1826. 

Born at Ashburton, in Devonshire. He was for some 
years the editor of the " Quarterly Review," and 
published some satires. 

THE B A VI AD. 
THE M.EVIAD. 
SENTIMENTAL POEMS. 

The satires were directed against a number of 
trivial versifiers of his day, who forced themselves upon 
the public attention. The poems are of considerable 
merit and poetical value. 



REGINALD HEBER. 
1783-18-26. 

Born at Malpas, in Cheshire, and educated at Oxford, 
where he distinguished himself in both Latin and Eng- 
lish versification. He became a fellow of All Souls' 



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129 



College, and then entered the Church. In 1822 he was 
appointed Bishop of Calcutta, and entered upon a sphere 
of the most active usefulness, which was terminated in 
a sad and unexpected manner. He was found dead in 
his bath. 

PALESTINE. 
EUKOPE. 

FROM GREENLAND'S ICY MOUNTAINS. 

The first was a prize poem, written at Oxford, for 
which he gained great distinction. Heber is better 
known by his missionary hymns than by his other 
productions : the least of his poems breathe the purest 
thoughts and most genuine poetical sentiment. The 
expression " Gentle Heber " is as indicative of the 
character of his works as of his manhood. 



ROBERT POLLOK 
1799-1827. 

Born at Muirhouse, Renfrewshire, and educated at 
Glasgow. He became a minister of the United Seces- 
sion Church of Scotland. 

THE COURSE OF TIME 

is a long poem in blank verse, and professes to be a 
sketch of the life and end of man. It is a work of con- 
siderable merit, and many passages give evidence that 
the author had considerable power of writing. It is 
strongly tinged with Calvinistic doctrine, and occasion- 
ally the style is pompous and inflated. 



GEORGE CRARBE. 
. . 1754-1832. 
Born at Aldborough, in Suffolk, where his father was 
the salt-master, or collector of salt duties in the town. 
He seems to have been treated with some harshness by 
his father, for which he consoled himself by treasuring 



130 Handbook of 

up and reading over and over again the verses in a 
periodical to which his father subscribed. At the age 
of fourteen, after grounding himself in classics and 
mathematics, he was apprenticed to a surgeon and 
apothecary, at Wickam Brook, near Bury St. Edmunds. 
Meeting with such great ill-usage, he was removed to 
another master at Woodbridge, in Suffolk, where he 
cultivated the talent for making verses that had already 
developed itself. In the house of his master he "filled 
a drawer with poetry." The success of an effort to win 
a prize for a poem on Hope, offered by the proprietor 
of a magazine, encouraged him to proceed. After attempt- 
ing to establish himself as an apothecary in his native 
town, he set off for London, where he hoped to attain to 
fame and fortune by his literary efforts. Borrowing from 
Mr. Dudley North, whose brother had once contested 
Aldborough in an election, five pounds to pay his 
journey, he set off in a small sloop, and soon stood alone 
and unknown in the streets of London. For a time 
he was unfortunate, his poems were refused, and no 
publisher would help him. Having in vain solicited 
assistance from Lord North, then Prime Minister, in a 
lucky moment he thought of bringing his circumstances 
under the notice of the celebrated Edmund Burke, 
whose penetrating eye at once discerned the merits of 
his poems. Burke generously extended to him the 
help of which he stood in need, assisted him with his 
counsel, and it was under his auspices that " The 
Library " and " The Village " were presented to the 
world. By the advice of Burke he qualified himself 
for, and entered the Church of England, being ordained 
in 1782. Appointed curate at Aldborough, he was, 
through the influence of his patron, appointed domestic 
chaplain to the Duke of Rutland, and took up his abode 1 
at Belvoir Castle. Soon after this he was presented 
with two small livings in Dorsetshire. Some years 
later he received from the Duke of Rutland the living 
of Trowbridge, where he resided for the remainder of 
his life, a quiet, unassuming, conscientious country 



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131 



parson. His "moral character was an almost perfect 
model. ,, 

THE LIBRARY. 

THE VILLAGE. 

THE NEWSPAPER. 

THE PARISH REGISTER. 

THE BOROUGH. 

TALES IN VERSE. 

TALES OF THE HALL. 

So decided was the success of " The Library " and 
"The Village, " published as above, through the kind 
patronage of Burke, that the fame of Crabbe was at once 
sealed. " The Village," which is in two books, paints 
in perfectly truthful lines actual characters of rustic 
society, without embellishments, or what is termed 
"poetic license." It made a very strong impression on 
the public mind. " The Newspaper " appeared in 1785, 
and then, for twenty-one years, his poet's pen was idle. 
In 1807 he appeared with " The Parish Register," 
founded upon the same basis as " The Village." It is, 
perhaps, the most successful of all his works, though 
not the best. " The Borough " contains the most 
powerful painting. Besides the " Tales in Verse " and 
the " Tales of the Hall," there was another series of 
tales published during his lifetime. By these three 
sets of tales he is, perhaps, better known to the 
generality of readers than by any of his works. For 
the " Tales of the Hall," with the remaining copyright 
of his poems, he received the large sum of £3,000. 

" The English poor — their woes, weaknesses, and 
sins — form the almost unvarying theme of Crabbe's 
poetry. Himself a poor man's son, he could not help, 
whenever he visited the hovels or the parish workhouse 
at Muston or at Trowbridge, recollecting the days when 
he had played with ragged boys down by the shipping 
in the little harbour of Aldborough ; or when he had 
stood by the sick beds of labourers and boatmen, a poor 
country surgeon, living a more wretched and precarious 
life than many of his patients. He had been himself 
! within the veil of the poor man's life — he had himself 



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felt many of the sorrows that smite the poor ; and thus 
it was that he could produce, with such marvellous 
truth and minuteness of detail, those grey photographs 
of humble village life. The distinguishing feature of 
his poetry is the wonderful minuteness of his descriptive 
passages. One of the most objective of our poets, he 
described faithfully all that he saw, and little seems to 
have escaped his searching ken. "Upon the sea he dwells 
with especial love, and whether he writes of it as the 
gentle, sunny thing, that taps lazily at the side of a 
stranded ship, or the fierce and powerful element that 
sweeps in white fury over sharp and splintered rocks, 
some of his finest lines flow and brighten in its praise.' ' 
" The literary character of Crabbe is that of a stern 
but accurate delineator of human nature in its less 
pleasing aspect and less happy circumstances : he loved 
to follow out the history of vice and misery in all their 
obscure windings, and to appal and melt his readers by j 
the most startling pictures of woe. Care must be taken 
to keep in mind that his writings do not present a just 
view of human nature and human life on the whole ; for 
a mistake of this kind might lead such of his readers as 
possess little knowledge of the world into a great error. 
With all his severity, he has much tenderness ; and it 
must excite our surprise that this quality is more ap- \ 
parent in his later than in his earlier poems. His works 
are also distinguished throughout by very high moral 
aims." 



SIR WALTER SCOTT. 
1771-1832. 

The prose works of Sir Walter Scott have so com- 
pletely identified him as one of the foremost in the, 
rank of novelists, that the fame of his poems pales; 
before them. An account of his life and circum- 
stances will be duly found in its place as a prose 
writer. It was, however, in poetry that he made his 



English Literature. 



j first literary efforts, and this in the translation of some 
of Burger's poems. 

LENORE. 

WILD HUNTSMAN. 

MINSTRELSY OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER, 
LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL. 
MARMION. 

LADY OF THE LAKE. 
VISION OF DON RODERICK. 
LORD OF THE ISLES. 
ROKEBY. 

HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS. 

The two first translations are "ballads of great wild- 
j ness and power." The second, as its name implies, is a 
j collection of the ballads of that district. Many of them 
are original, but most were gathered among his many 
tours in Southern Scotland. The "Lay of the Last 
Minstrel' ' was the first of the series of grand poems, 
or metrical tales, in which he revives the " manners, 
incidents, and sentiments of chivalrous times." It was 
not entirely original, the subject being suggested by the 
! tale of " Gilpin Horner." " Marmion," the " Lady of the 
Lake," the " Lord of the Isles," are all of this character, 
and refer to various periods in Scottish history. " Roke- 
by " is a tale of the seventeenth century, and relates the 
incidents connected with the civil wars. All these 
poems were received with the greatest favour and 
avidity. In the course of six years no less than 25,000 
copies were sold of the "Lay of the Last Minstrel," so 
popular did it immediately become. The style of the 
verse is to a certain extent an imitation of the short 
irregular measure adopted by the early minstrels. The 
verses are in flowing lines of eight syllables, and 
characterized by great fluency and brilliant colouring. 
The poetical power decreases in each successive work. 
Even Scott himself was tired of " Harold " before he had 
completed it, and worked at the concluding portion " in 
an agony of impatience and dissatisfaction," acknow- 
ledging that Byron was a far superior poet. To this 
circumstance is perhaps due the fact that he turned 



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his attention to the other department of literature in 
which he shines so brilliantly. As a strictly narrative 
poet, he did not attempt to melt the feelings, to awaken 
meditative thought, or to lead the mind into wild and 
supernatural regions ; he only endeavoured to entertain 
the great bulk of mankind with such a relation of 
probable, though romantic, events as they might be 
supposed capable of appreciating. The poetry of his 
writings expressly consists in the feeling which he 
excites in association with those events — a feeling of 
admiration and wonder, which we are apt to entertain- 
for everything connected with the past, but especially 
for the former circumstances of that which is still 
before our eyes. 



WILLIAM SOTHEBY. 
1759-1833. 

Born in London, and educated at Harrow. He chose 
the army as his profession, in which he remained till 
the year 1780, when he retired to devote himself to 
literature. 

POETICAL DESCRIPTION OF WALES. 
TRANSLATION OF THE GEORGICS. 
CONSTANCE DE CASTILE. 

TRANSLATION OF THE ILIAD AND ODYSSEY. 
TRANSLATION OF WIELAND'S OBERON. 

He was possessed of great learning, and his transla- 
tions display great skill and a thorough knowledge of 
languages. " Constance de Castile " is written in imita- 
tion of Sir Walter Scott's romance poems. The trans- 
lation of " Oberon " has been greatly praised. 



SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. 
1772-1834. 

Born in Devonshire, at St. Mary Ottery, of which 
place his father was vicar. Educated first at Christ's 



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135 



Hospital, he passed from thence to Cambridge, which 
i he left without obtaining a degree, and then enlisted as 
a trooper in the 15th regiment of Light Dragoons. 
From this position he was rescued by his friends four 
months afterwards, through the intercession of his 
captain, who observed some Latin words written under 
his saddle as it hung upon the wall. He then lived 
some time at Bristol, where he and his friends, Southey 
and others, planned the pantisocracy, or domestic re- 
public, which was to be founded upon the banks of the 
( Susquehanna. Failing the most important portion of 
the scheme — the money to carry it out— Coleridge was 
I employed by a bookseller to write. He then contracted 
a marriage with a girl whose sister had already become 
i Southey 's wife. The pair lived together some time at 
Nether Stowey, in Somersetshire. Coleridge then paid 
i a visit to Germany, the expenses of which journey were 
defrayed by the Wedgwoods of Staffordshire, and 
upon his return he took up his permanent abode at 
Keswick, where he stayed ten years, with the exception 
i of a brief period, during which he acted as secretary to 
the Governor of Malta, and paid a visit to that island. 
In .1810 he returned to London, and lived till his death 
at Highgate, sheltered and cared for by his friend Gill- 
man, the surgeon. Carlyle's portrait of Coleridge is 
thus painted : " Brow and head were round, and of 
massive weight ; but the face was flabby and irresolute. 
The deep eyes, of a light hazel, were as full of sorrow 
as of inspiration ; confused pain looked mildly from 
them, as in a kind of mild astonishment. The whole 
figure and air, good and amiable otherwise, might be 
called flabby and irresolute; expressive of weakness 
under possibility of strength. He hung loosely on his 
limbs, with knees bent, and stooping attitude ; in walk- 
ing, he rather shuffled than decisively stepped ; and a 
lady once remarked, he never could fix which side of 
the garden-walk would suit him best, but continually 
shifted, in cork-screw fashion, and kept trying both. 
A heavy-laden, high- aspiring, and surely much- suffering 



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Handbook of 



man. His voice, naturally soft and good, had con- 
tracted itself into a plaintive snuffle and sing-song ; he 
spoke as if preaching — you would have said preaching 
earnestly, and also hopelessly, the weightiest things. 
I still recollect his c object ' and 'subject,' — terms of 
continual recurrence in the Kantean province ; and how 
he sung and snuffled them into 1 om-m-mject ' and 
c sum-m-mjecV with a kind of solemn shake or quaver, 
as he rolled along." 

Early in life Coleridge contracted the fatal habit of 
opium-eating, and the grand defect of his character 
was irresolution. " His life," says Mr. Collier, " was a 
succession of beginnings which never saw an end. He 
went to college, but took no degree. He prepared for 
emigration, but did not start. He got married, but left 
others to support his wife and children. At twenty-five 
he planned an epic on the c Destruction of Jerusalem,' 
but to-morrow — and to-morrow — and to-morrow — 
passed without one written line. A great genius with 
a great infirmity — the twinhood of mental strength and 
feebleness — he claims at once our reverence and our 
deep compassion/' 

CHRISTABEL. 
GENEVIEVE. 

THE ANCIENT MARINER. 

ODE TO MONT BLANC. 

ODE TO THE DEPARTING YEAR. 

Both " Christabel " and " Genevieve " are fragments- 
noble examples of what might have been done. " Christ- 
abel " was given to the world by the advice of Byron. " It 
is a tale of strange witchcraft. A sweet and innocent 
girl, praying for her lover's safety beneath a huge oak 
tree, outside the castle gate, under the dim moonlight 
of an April sky, is startled by the appearance of a witch, 
disguised as a richly- clad beauty in distress. The 
gentle Christabel asks the wanderer into the castle ; the 
disguise is there laid aside ; some horrible shape smites 
the poor hospitable maid into a trance ; and the blink- 
ing glance of the witch's small, dull, snake-like eyes, 



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137 



shot suddenly at the shuddering victim, clouds the 
innocent blue of her eye with a passive imitation of the 
same hateful look." 

For exquisite tenderness and depth of feeling, the 
love-song " Genevieve " cannot be surpassed. 

The " Ancient Mariner" "is a poem in the simple, 
picturesque style of the old ballad. The tale — told to 
a spell-bound wedding guest by an old sailor, who, in 
a few vivid touches, is made to stand before us with 
grey beard, glittering eyes, and long, brown, skinny 
hands — enchains us with strange and mystic power. 
The shooting of the albatross, that came through the 
snowy fog to cheer the crew — the red blistering calm 
that fell upon the sea — the skeleton ship with its phan- 
tom dicers driving across the sun in view of the thirst- 
scorched seamen — the lonely life of the guilty mariner 
on the rolling sea amid the corpses of his shipmates — 
the springing of good thoughts at the sight of the 
beautiful water- snakes sporting £ beyond the shadow of 
the ship ' — the coming of sleet, and rain, and a spectral 
wind — and the final deliverance from the doomed vessel, 
are among the pictures that flit before us as we read— 
shadows all, but touched with weird light and colour, 
as from another world." 

The " Ode to Mont Blanc " is one of the grandest of 
descriptive poems ever written. The author mentioned 
above thus sums up Coleridge as he was in the last 
years of his life : — " Coleridge sat on the brow of High- 
gate Hill, in those years, looking down on London and 
its smoke tumult, like a sage escaped from the inanity 
of life's battle ; attracting towards him the thoughts of 
innumerable brave souls still engaged there. His ex- 
press contributions to poetry, philosophy, or any specific 
province of human literature or enlightenment, had been 
small and sadly intermittent; but he had, especially 
among young inquiring men, a higher than literary — 
a kind of prophetic or magician character. He was 
thought to hold, he alone in England, the key of German 
and other transcendentalisms ; knew the sublime secret 



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of believing by ' the reason ' what the * understanding 9 
had been obliged to fling out as incredible ; and could 
still, after Hume and Yoltaire had done their best and 
worst with him, profess himself an orthodox Christian, 
and say and point to the Church of England, with its 
singular old rubrics and surplices at All-hallowtide, 
4 Est o perpetual A sublime man; who, alone in those 
dark days, had saved his crown of spiritual manhood ; 
escaping from the black materialisms and revolutionary 
deluges, with 1 God, Freedom, Immortality,' still his : a 
king of men. The practical intellects of the world did 
not much heed him, or carelessly reckoned him a meta- 
physical dreamer : but to the rising spirits of the young 
generation he had this dusky sublime character; and 
sat there as a kind of Magus, girt in mystery and 
enigma, his Dodona oak-grove (Mr. Gillman's house at 
Highgate) whispering strange things, uncertain whether 
oracles or jargon.' ' 

Mr. Chambers thus speaks of him : — " An undue de- 
votion to the study of metaphysics and of German lite- 
rature seems to have early blighted the genius of this 
poet, whose powers, both of imagination and of expres- 
sion, are among the highest that have been known in 
the present age. There is scarcely one of his poems 
which is not in some respect imperfect or deformed, and 
it is only in a few particular passages that he appears in 
his native and genuine lustre." 



THE HON. WILLIAM EOBERT SPENCER. 
1770-1834. 

One of the most brilliant men of his time, and the 
favourite of the fashionable circles of the metropolis. 
Falling, however, into monetary difficulties, he died 
obscurely in Paris. 

TRANSLATION OF LEONORA. 
GELERT AND OTHER POEMS. 



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139 



The former is from the German, the latter is the well- 
known ballad of the brave and ill-requited greyhound 
of Llewelyn; of the other poems, that entitled "Home'* 
is by far the best. 



THOMAS PRINGLE. 
1788-1834. 

Born in Roxburghshire. In 1820 he emigrated with 
his father and two brothers to the Cape of Good Hope, 
where they established a settlement named GlenLynden. 
He afterwards removed to Cape Town, and finally set- 
tled in London, where he subsisted for some time on the 
productions of his pen, and became secretary to the 
African Society. He edited for some time the literary 
annual called " Friendship's Offering.' ' 

SCENES OF TEVIOTDALE. 
EPHEMERIDES. 
AFRICAN SKETCHES. 

All his poems display a cultivated taste and fine 
feeling. The latter are personal narratives mixed *with 
poems. That entitled " Afar in the Desert " is by far 
the best. 



JAMES HOGG. 
1770-1835. 

James Hogg, known as the Ettrick Shepherd, was 
born in Selkirkshire. Like Burns, he followed rural 
occupations, being merely a shepherd, and receiving but 
a scanty education. Like Burns, too, he was also an 
unsuccessful farmer. Soon after he had published his 
first volume of poems he attracted the notice of Sir 
Walter Scott, who helped him considerably, and employed 
him to collect songs for his " Border Minstrelsy.' ' He 



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Handbook of 



lived for some time at a cottage at Altrive, where he 
died of dropsy. 

THE QUEEN'S WAKE. 
MAD OR OF THE MOOR. 
PILGRIMS OF THE SUN. 
POETIC MIRROR. 
QUEEN HYNDE. 

" The Queen's Wake " is a legendary poem, or rather 
a number of poems, supposed to have been sung to 
Queen Mary at Holyrood Palace. Among them is a 
fairy tale of great beauty, entitled " Kilmeny." It is 
beyond doubt the best production of the author. It 
describes the recollections of a child who had been 
carried away into fairy-land, and then allowed for a 
short space of time to return to her mortal position. 
The poem displays a superlative power of description, 
marked by " great delicacy and beauty, and a wild, un- 
earthly charm, unlike anything else in the circle of 
poetry, is diffused over the whole composition.' ' 

The " Pilgrims of the Sun " is a poem of considerable 
merit, written in blank verse. " Mador of the Moor " 
is after the manner of Spenser, with whom Hogg may 
be classed, as a " bard of romantic and legendary strain. ,, 
As a poet, Hogg has been said to possess " great powers 
of versification, an unusual copiousness and facility in 
the use of poetical fiction and imagery, a lively concep- 
tion of natural beauty, with a quick and prolific fancy to 
body forth his conceptions." 



FELICIA HEMANS. 
1793-1835. 

Mrs. Hemans was born at Liverpool, where her father, 
Mr. Browne, was a wealthy merchant. The greater part 
of her youth was spent amid the lovely scenery of North 
Wales. About the year 1812, she married Captain 
Hemans, but the union seems to have been an unhappy 



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141 



one, for he left England for Italy in 1818, and never 
returned. She died in Dublin. 

THE FOREST SANCTUARY. 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Her first appearance as a poetess was when she was 
but fifteen years old, when she published a few of her 
productions, which met with but little success. From 
that time till within a few weeks of her death she 
continued to write, at intervals, short pieces of great 
elegance. The best poem is undoubtedly " The Forest 
Sanctuary.'* 



ROBERT NICOLL. 
1814-1837. 

A native of Auchtergaven, in Perthshire. His early 
years were spent in a lowly manner, during which, in 
the intervals of his various employments, he carefully 
acquired knowledge and taught himself reading and 
writing. He afterwards became editor of the "Leeds 
Times/ ' which position he filled when his early death by 
consumption occurred. 

SHORT POEMS. 
SONGS. 

These all display the greatest taste and poetic feeling, 
and are full of fancy and delineations of rural scenery. 



LETITIA ELIZABETH LAND ON. 

1802-1838. 

Born at Chelsea, and married to Mr. Maclean, the 
then governor of Cape Coast Castle. Soon after her 
marriage she took an overdose of prussic acid, to relieve 
some spasms, and was found dead in her room. She 
was chiefly known by the initials L. E. L. 

THE IMPROVISATRICE. 



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This is her principal production, though her first 
and many other productions appeared in the " Literary 
Gazette." Through her verses there breathes a spirit 
of intense and romantic melancholy. 



JAMES SMITH. 
1775-1839. 

Known chiefly as the author, jointly with his brother 
Horace, of the 

REJECTED ADDRESSES, 

which were published in 1813. It was one of the most 
popular and successful works ever published. It con- 
tained imitations of Wordsworth, Cobbett, Southey, 
Coleridge, and Crabbe, all of which are from the pen of 
James. Horace contributed imitations of Scott, Moore, 
Lewis, Fitzgerald, and Dr. Johnson. 



WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED, 
1802-1839. 

Son of Mr. Serjeant Praed, entered the House of 
Commons and became Secretary of the Board of Control. 
While at Eton he started " The Etonian," and was one 
of the chief contributors to " Knight's Quarterly Maga- 
zine." 

POEMS. 

These, consisting of a number of short pieces, have 
been published in a collective form. They appeared 
chiefly in the various magazines, and display great 
originality and power. Many of them are cleverly 
written in a light humorous strain. 



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143 



ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. 
1784-1842. 

Born at Blackwood, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. His 
father was a gardener and land steward, and was able to 
afford his son but few educational advantages. He was 
apprenticed to his uncle, a master mason and builder, 
but in 1810 he went to London and immediately became 
connected with the press. A few years after he acted 
as clerk of the works to Chantrey the sculptor. 

SIR MARMADUKE MAXWELL. 
TRADITIONAL TALES. 
THE MAID OF ELVAR. 

These works are of considerable merit, and display 
power of versification, with many touches of fancy and 
genuine feeling. His genius was somewhat erratic and 
but little under control. His contributions to the perio- 
dicals of the day, consisting of songs, &c, abound in 
touching illustrations of Scottish life and character. 



ROBERT SOUTHEY. 
1774-1843. 

Born at Bristol, the son of a linendraper, and edu- 
cated at Westminster School and Balliol College, Oxford, 
which he left in rather an abrupt manner in 1794. He 
then studied law at Gray's Inn, and made a couple of 
visits to Lisbon, where his uncle was chaplain of the 
British factory. The last forty years of his life were 
spent at Greta Hall, near Keswick, Cumberland. Lat- 
terly he was without reason, in consequence of a stroke 
of paralysis. Like Johnson, he lived from " hand to 
mouth,' ? until a pension placed him above the fear of 
want ; but he could not then give up the habits of in- 
cessant study and literary toil, which had grown to be 
his second nature. He was never so happy as when he 
sat amid his books, pen in hand, adding newly- written 



144 



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sheets to the pile of manuscript already lying in hia 
copy- drawer. 

JOAN OF ARC. 
WAT TYLER. 

THALABA, THE DESTROYER. 
METRICAL TALES. 
MADOC. 

THE CURSE OF KEHAMA. 

RODERICK, THE LAST OF THE GOTHS. 

A VISION OF JUDGMENT. 

ALL FOR LOVE. 

VARIOUS MINOR POEMS. 

"Joan of Arc" was published when the poet was 
but twenty-one years of age. It is an epic poem, 
written in the most masterly style. In "Wat Tyler" 
he has been considered to argue in favour of the 
adoption of the most extreme principles of liberty and 
equality. " Thalaba, the Destroyer," " depicts, in blank 
verse of very irregular length, but of great music, the 
perils and ultimate triumph of an Arabian hero, who 
fights with and conquers the powers of Evil. A 
splendid moonlight shining on the Eastern sands, with 
two figures — a sad mother and a weeping boy — 
wandering in the pale radiance, is the opening picture 
of a poem which abounds in brilliant painting. For 
the copyright of this work, which was finished in 
Portugal, Southey received a hundred guineas." 

"Madoc," an epic poem in blank verse, founded on 
the legend of a voyage made by a Welsh prince to 
America in the twelfth century, and of his founding a 
colony there, appeared in 1805. 

Mr. Collier, in his admirable "Biographical Sketches," 
thus sums it up : — 

" 6 The Curse of Kehama ' is his finest poem. In 
verse of most irregular music, but completely suited to 
his fantastic theme, he leads us to the terrestrial 
paradise, — to the realms below the sea, — to the heaven 
of heavens, and, in a sublime passage, through adaman- 
tine rock, lit with a furnace glow, into Padalon, the 



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145 



Indian Hades. We follow the strange career of 
Kehama, a Hindoo rajah, who by penance and self- 
inflicted torture raises himself to a level with Brahma 
and Vishnu; we suffer with the poor mortal, who is 
burdened with the spell of a terrible curse laid on him 
by the enchanter, and we rejoice in his final deliverance 
and restoration to his family. Various Hindoo gods, a 
ghost, a benevolent spirit, and a woman, who receives 
immortality at the end, are among the dramatis per- 
sons. Scenery and costume, situations and sentiments, 
are alike in keeping with the Oriental nature of the 
work. But, for all its splendour and all its correctness 
as a work of art, it is so far removed from the world 
in which our sympathies lie, that few can fully appre- 
ciate this noble poem, and perhaps none can return to 
it with never- wearied love, as to a play of Shakspeare 
or a novel by Scott." 



THOMAS CAMPBELL. 
1777-1844. 

Born at Glasgow, and educated at that University, 
where he greatly distinguished himself by his trans- 
lations from the Greek poets. He supported himself 
first by tuition, and then by doing odd work for book- 
sellers, till the production of the "Pleasures of Hope," 
when he emerged from the obscurity in which he had 
been living. He soon afterwards went abroad, and 
visited Bavaria, and was present at the battle of Hohen- 
linden, when the French were victorious over the 
Austrians. He was afterwards elected Lord Bector of 
the University of Glasgow three successive times. He 
was also editor for ten years of the " ISTew Monthly 
Magazine." He died at Boulogne, in France, and his 

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body was brought to England and placed in Westminster 
Abbey. 

PLEASURES OF HOPE. 

GERTRUDE OF WYOMING. 

PILGRIM OF GLENCOE. 

SPECIMENS OF THE BRITISH POETS. 

THE LAST MAN. 

SONGS, ETC. 

The "Pleasures of Hope " was written in a " dusky 
Edinburgh lodging," and published when the poet was 
only twenty-two years of age. It immediately took a 
first place among the sentimental poems in the language. 
It is thoroughly in accordance with the spirit of the 
poetry of the time in which it was written, and is ex- 
ceedingly didactic and moralizing : " though deformed 
by a few of the bombastical thoughts and tinsel expres- 
sions which young poets are apt to use, it is a noble 
effusion of ardent and elevated feeling, embodying much 
fine precept and many affecting views of human life." 

" Gertrude of Wyoming " is a gentler and more pen- 
sive production altogether. The scene is laid in Penn- 
sylvania, and the interest is derived from the customs 
and incidents of Indian life. It contains many beautiful 
delineations of character and feeling. 

It is a question whether Campbell's shorter lyrics and 
songs do not eclipse his more elaborate productions. 
" The Last Man" is one of the former, and though 
the effort is an ambitious one, and contains many over- 
strained images, the conception is original and interest- 
ing. It is the soliloquy of the last representative of 
the human race, uttered among the tombs and crumbling 
ruins. 

One of the best performances among his minor poems 
is " Hohenlinden," in which the poet describes, " in a 
spirit-stirring lyric, the snow at midnight, the sudden 
arming for battle, the shout of the soldiers, the fire of 
the artillery, and the death of the combatants, in one of 
the finest battle-pieces ever written," 



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147 



" Lord Ullin's Daughter," " The Battle of the Baltic," 
and " Ye Mariners of England," are most successful 
efforts, and will live long in the popular mind. The 
latter are truly national songs. 

In the higher walk of poetry Campbell has been well 
described as " refined, elegant, and tranquil, abounding 
in delicate traits, appealing to the softer emotions with 
a tenderness almost feminine ; fluent and gentle as a 
melody, polished Hke a rare gem, and betraying the 
influence of a taste approaching the limits of extreme 
fastidiousness," 



JOHN WILSON. 

1785-1844. 

Born in the town of Paisley, where his father was a 
wealthy manufacturer, educated at Glasgow and Oxford 
Universities. He distinguished himself greatly at the 
latter. After some reverses of fortune he went to the 
bar and attained to the chair of Moral Philosophy in 
the University of Edinburgh. 

THE ISLE OF PALMS. 

THE CITY OF THE PLAGUE. 

His poetical works, which have been overshadowed 
by his prose writings, have been gathered into two 
volumes. The above are the principal. " The prevail- 
ing defect of his poetry is its uniform sweetness and 
feminine softness of character." Some of the pictures 
drawn in the "City of the Plague" are most exquisite, 
and all the poems display great imagination and poetic 
fancy. The shipwreck in the former is a most pictu- 
resque piece of writing. 



THOMAS HOOD. 
1799-1845. 

Though a humorist of the very highest character, 

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Hood wrote some poems which, may be regarded as 
among his most valuable writings. Born in London, 
he displayed at an early age a talent for literature, and 
when barely twenty years of age was associated with the 
brilliant literary circle that contributed to the " London 
Magazine," of which he became sub-editor. The failure 
of a house of business involved him in poverty and debt, 
and instead of seeking relief from his load of trouble, he, 
like Scott, resolved to pay off the debt thus involun- 
tarily contracted by working hard and economy. After 
living with his wife and family for some time on the Con- 
tinent, he returned to London ; but the strain upon his 
bodily strength was so great, that he succumbed under 
his self-imposed task and died. A pension had been 
obtained for him just before his death. 

PLEA OF THE MIDSUMMER FAIRIES. 

HERO AND LEAXDER. 

POEM OX HOPE. 

BRIDGE OF SIGHS. 

EUGENE ARAM. 

SOXG OF THE SHIRT. 

SERIOUS AXD COMIC BALLADS. 

The first two of the above are the longest and most 
elaborate of his serious poems. In both is to be found 
passages that display the most intimate acquaintance 
with the beauties of nature and a superior imagina- 
tive power. Hood possessed a wonderful faculty of 
perceiving the ridiculous and odd. Even his serious 
poems are fall of queer rhymes and droll fancies. His 
wit is present everywhere, but often when he is 
most witty he is most pathetic. In one of his ballads, 
entitled " I Remember," he manifests the deepest melan- 
choly. The last verse, it has been well said, " seems to 
contain the sorrows of a whole life." The "Bridge of 
Sighs" and the "Song of the Shirt" originally appeared 
in "Punch." The latter is a striking picture of the 
miseries of a poor London sempstress. The poem on 
" Hope " is a masterly production. It appeared first in 
the " London Magazine." 



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149 



"Hood stands very high, among the poets of the 
second order. He was not a creative genius. He has 
given little indication of the highest imaginative 
faculty ; but his fancy was most delicate and full of 
graceful play. His appreciation of the beauties of 
nature was very vivid ; and some of his descriptions 
are models of their class. His most distinctive mark 
was the thorough humanity of his thoughts and expres- 
sions. His poems are amongst the most valuable con- 
tributions to English literature of sympathy with and 
insight into human life and character." 



: JOHN HOOKHAM FEE EE, 
1769-1846. 

This author was a friend of Canning, with whom he 
was associated in the publication of the " A nti- Jacobin " 
newspaper. He was afterwards Charge d' Affairs in 
Spain, under General Moore, and during the latter part 
of his life_ resided at Malta, where he died. 

A SATIRICAL POEM, 

entitled, " Prospectus and Specimen of an intended 
National "Work by William and Robert Whistlecraft." 
It is a clever bit of burlesque writing, with many 
touches of real poetry. Byron is said to have founded 
his poem of " Beppo " upon it. 



HORACE SMITH. 
1779-1849. 

Brother of the before-mentioned James Smith, and 
with him j oint author of the ' ' Rejected Addresses . ' ' The 

ADDRESS TO A NUNNERY 

is his best work, displaying great poetic taste and the 
finest sensibility. 



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EBENEZER ELLIOT. 
1781-1849. 

Born at Masborough, in Yorkshire, in hunible circum- 
stances of life. He was brought up to the trade of iron- 
founding, which he followed till just before his death. 
He became a noted man in the struggle for the repeal 
of the Corn Laws. His life was one of ups and downs, 
and fighting against pecuniary and domestic distress. 

CORN LAW RHYMES. 

THE WONDERS OF THE LANE. 

The " Corn Law Rhymes," sometimes harsh and repul- 
sive, did much towards keeping the agitation alive that 
led to the repeal of the Corn Laws. He wrote, however, 
other poems possessing great merits, and all his works 
show considerable genius and an intimate knowledge of 
country life and the wonders of the wayside. 



BERNARD BARTON. 
1784-1849. 

A member of the Society of Friends, and called the 
Quaker-poet, was a native of Suffolk. He resided and 
died at the pleasant little town of Woodbridge, in 
Suffolk, where he was beloved for his genial and un- 
affected manners. 

METRICAL EFFUSIONS. 
NAPOLEON AND OTHER POEMS. 
POETIC VIGILS. 
DEVOTIONAL VERSES. 

These and numerous other pieces appeared in maga- 
zines and periodicals : many of them display great merit 
and a thorough love of nature. 

WILLIAM WORD S WORTH. 
1770-1850. 

Born at Cockermouth, Cumberland, in 1770, and 



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1S1 



educated at the University of Cambridge. He 
was intended for the Church, but his inclination to 
follow the pursuit, and that alone, for which he was 
so eminently gifted, was furthered by a legacy of £900 
from a young friend named Calvert, who bequeathed 
it to him with a request that he would devote himself 
entirely to poetry. In 1790 he made a tour to the 
Continent, and in France he became acquainted with 
some of the Girondists, his sympathies being then 
entirely with the French Revolution. In 1813 he 
settled down at Rydal Mount, on Lake Windermere, 
and was about that time, through the interest of Lord 
Lonsdale, made Distributor of Stamps for the county of 
Westmoreland, with a salary of £500 a year. He 
succeeded Southey as poet laureate in 1843. 

THE EXCURSION. 

THE WHITE DOE OF RYLSTONE. 

RUTH. 

WE ARE SEVEN. 

LINES ON REVISITING THE WYE. 

The "Excursion" is part of a larger work, entitled 
<c The Recluse," in which the poet intended to discuss the 
human soul in all its deepest workings and its loftiest 
relations — we find no dramatic life and little human 
interest ; and to this feature of the poem, as well as to 
the novelty of finding subtle metaphysical reasoning 
embodied in blank verse, its original unpopularity must 
be ascribed. The critics were particularly hard upon 
it, but its rich fancy and deep sensibility has caused 
it to stand its ground, and even to become popular. 
Its admirers are increasing year by year. " The White 
Doe of Bylstone " is a tragic tale founded upon the 
ruin of a family during the civil war. 

In Wordsworth may be found all the qualities which 
he himself laid down as a rule that a poet should 
possess, although his critics refused to recognize them. 

The Lake school of poetry, in which Wordsworth, 
Coleridge, Southey, and Wilson are the most conspi- 



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cuous members, needs some notice. The term was 
originally applied contemptuously, and was first used 
because the poets mentioned above had each their 
dwellings by the English lakes, paid sent forth their 
poetical effusions from that district. 

Wordsworth was the great master, and his aim was 
to clothe in the simplest English speech, poetical 
thoughts and fancies. Cowper was the popular bard 
of the day, and his forcible yet clear language had 
routed, as it were, the band of poets who revelled in an 
exalted and inflated diction, and were not content with 
other subjects than those of the old Romanists — " the 
military hero waving his red sword amid battle smoke ; 
the assassin watching from the dark shadow of a 
vaulted doorway his unconscious victim, who strolls, 
singing in the white moonlight, down the empty street ; 
the lover, ' sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad 
made to his mistress' eyebrow,' and kindred themes ; " 
and while Wordsworth cannot be said to have ori- 
ginated the school, he certainly established it. The 
reaction had already taken place, the public were 
already weaned, as it were, from their vitiated tastes ; 
and Wordsworth and his friends did but make a 
further step in the direction that had already been 
pointed out. His efforts were severely criticised and 
somewhat unjustly condemned; for if it cannot be said 
" that he effected a reform in the language of poetry, 
that he found the public bigoted to a vicious and 
flowery diction, which seemed to mean a great deal 
and really meant nothing, and that he led them back to 
sense and simplicity," it is true that he and the other 
poets of the Lake school not only took their subjects 
from among the commonest things and wrote their 
poems in the simplest style, but that they demonstrated 
beyond a doubt that such was compatible with the 
truest poetic grace and the richest fancy. They lis- 
tened to Nature and her mysterious harmonies, "to the 
ceaseless song of praise that rises from every blade of 
grass and every dewdrop, warbles in the fluting of 



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153 



every lark, and sweeps to heaven in every wave of air ; 
they fonncl in their own deep hearts a musical echo of 
that song, and shaping into words the swelling of their 
inward faith, they spoke to the world in a w r ay to which 
the world was little used, about things in which the 
world saw no poetic beauty." 

They disliked the old conventional mode of treating 
the old subjects, and inculcated nature and simplicity. 
It may be that in their opposition they rushed into an 
almost ridiculous extreme, but the theory started by 
Cowper and Crabbe was a healthful one, and proved 
that it was based upon sound principles by standing 
the storm of ridicule and criticism with which it was 
met. The Lake poets held on through all, convinced 
that they were right, and a reaction soon set in in their 
favour. In the present we can more accurately judge 
of the value of the service they rendered. They erred 
in judgment, but they were right in the main, and that 
they were so is shown in the living charm of their 
"writings. The undying human interest they display 
is not only instantly recognized, but finds an echo in 
the heart of every disciple. That their influence for 
good was real has been proved beyond doubt, and the 
principles of the Lake school of poets, by the very 
force of their truth, have made a lasting impression 
upon the British mind. 



THOMAS MOORE. 
1779-1852. 

Born in Dublin, of humble parentage, he was enabled 
by his own talents and genius, and* by the diligent self- 
denying exertions of his mother, to obtain a decent 
education. When only fourteen he contributed verses 
of no mean character to a magazine. He then studied 
at Trinity College, and afterwards entered the Middle 
Temple, London, in 1799. Through Lord Moira, to 
whom he had an introduction, he was presented to t]^e 



154 Handbook of 



Prince Regent, who allowed him to dedicate a trans- 
lation of " Anaereon " to him. With this start it was 
not long before he attained to a fair position. Through 
the same interest he was appointed, in 1803, to the 
Registrarship of the Bermudas, which office he filled 
but a short time, when he left the work to a deputy, 
while he made a tour in the United States, after which 
he returned to England. Like Southey, he was bereft 
of reason sometime before his death. 

IRISH MELODIES. 

LALLA ROOKH. 

THE LOVES OF THE ANGELS. 

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

The true bent of Moore's genius was to lyrical com- 
position. His songs are characterized by sparkling 
fancy, combined with a chastened gaiety. The first 
volume of poems, which he published when only twenty 
years of age, under the fictitious name of Little, were 
censured for the somewhat licentious character of some 
of the contents. The words adapted to the "Irish 
Melodies/' while they are not equal to the composition 
of the same class that came from Burns, lacking both 
their passion and tenderness, yet give evidence of 
poetical feeling and fancy, and are specimens of polished 
and most musical verse. 

"Lalla Rookh" is an Oriental tale, or rather a series 
of tales, presenting a picture of Eastern life replete 
with the most voluptuous and richest Asiatic imagery. 
Shutting himself up in a Derbyshire cottage, with a 
pile of books on Oriental history and travel, he so 
steeped his mind in the colours of his theme, that he is 
said to have been asked by one who knew Asia well, at 
what time he had travelled there. 

The plan of " Lalla Rookh" is original and happy ; it 
consists of a little prose love-tale, describing the jour- 
ney of a beautiful Oriental princess from Delhi to 
Bucharia, where she is to meet her betrothed husband, 
the king of the latter country. " Great splendour of 



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155 



imagination and immense stores of Eastern reading are 
lavished on the description of this gorgeous progress, 
and the details of scenery, manners, and ceremonial 
are given with an almost overpowering luxuriance of 
painting, artfully relieved by a pleasant epigrammatic 
humour displayed in the character and criticisms of the 
princess's pompous and pedantic chamberlain, Fadla- 
deen. For Lalla Rookh's amusement, when stopping 
for her night's repose, a young Bucharian poet, Fera- 
moz, is introduced, who chants to the accompaniment 
of his national guitar four separate poems of a narrative 
character, which are thus, so to say, incrusted in the 
prose story. The princess becomes gradually enamoured 
of the interesting young bard, and her growing melan- 
choly continues till her arrival at her future home, 
where, in the person of her betrothed husband, who 
comes to meet her in royal pomp, she recognizes the 
musician who had employed his disguise of a poor 
minstrel to gain that love which he deserved to enjoy 
as a monarch." The four poems are entitled : — " The 
Veiled Prophet," " The Fire Worshippers," " Paradise 
and the Peri," and the " Light of the Harem." 

The " Loves of the Angels" is inferior both in concep- 
tion and interest — neither is it treated so well as " Lalla 
Rookh." It is based upon the passage of the Book of 
Genesis, where it is said that in the first ages the " sons 
of God" became enamoured of the daughters of men. 
From which connection came the Giants. Three of 
these angels are introduced, who each in turn relate 
their own story with somewhat tiresome effect. 



JAMES MONTGOMERY. 
1771-1854 

Born at Irvine, in Ayrshire. He became somewhat 
noted as a journalist and as editor of the " Sheffield 



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Handbook of 



Iris." Was twice imprisoned in York Castle for libel. 
He long enjoyed a pension of £200 a year. 

THE WANDERER IN SWITZERLAND. 

WEST INDIES. 

PRISON AMUSEMENTS. 

GREENLAND. 

THE PELICAN ISLAND. 

The above poems are the most important of many 
that came from his pen. The poem on the " West 
Indies," which excels in the freedom and force with 
which the scenes are drawn, was written to celebrate 
the abolition of slavery by England, in 1807. " Prison 
Amusements ' ' was written during his imprisonment in 
York Castle. " Greenland " is a poem in five cantos, 
and with the " Pelican Island," in nine cantos, is re- 
markable for many richly descriptive passages. As a 
poet, Montgomery is characterized by " great purity 
and elevation of thought, harmonious versification, and 
a fine strain of devotional feeling." 



SAMUEL ROGERS, 
1763-1855, 

Was born at Stoke Kewington, and attained to great 
eminence as a London banker. Thongh essentially a 
poet of the latter part of the last and the beginning of 
the present century, he died not so long ago but that 
his face and form may be recalled by many. He was 
of a most benevolent character, especially to the poor 
literary strnggler. 

PLEASURES OF MEMORY. 

COLUMBUS. 

HUMAN LIFE. 

ITALY. 

By the first poem, which is also the earliest of the 
above, he is best known. It was published in 1792. 
It contains many pictures of exceeding beauty, and 
many passages of excellence and animation. Both this 



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157 



and Iris other works display the greatest care in their 
finish and elaboration, being clear and polished in style, 
and presenting a classic beauty, without much origin- 
ality. They lack somewhat of energy, but possess the 
power of touching the finer sensibilities, and of describing 
" visible and mental objects with truth and effect." 



CONCLUSION. 



To those who have followed our remarks on each period, 
from the Introduction to the prose writers to the end of 
the remarks on the last period into which the poets 
have been divided, it may not be amiss to conclude with 
some general remarks up on the growth and characteristics 
of English Literature. When we consider the lateness 
of its birth and the many adverse circumstances that 
crippled its growth, and then turn our thoughts to its 
present influence and mighty volume, and further re- 
member that it is the literature of two continents, 
England and America, we may well ask the secret of 
its power and success. It will hardly be claiming too 
much if we ask recognition for it as the most powerful 
literature in the world. It certainly is the most popular 
— popular in the sense of appertaining to, and being 
adapted for, the people ; and yet with this it contains 
works of learning and research that yield to those of 
no other country, — works of fancy and imagination 
that soar far above the cherished specimens of other 
modern literatures, and poems that are worthy a place 
beside the famous works of the most glorious poets of 
the Grecian age. As far as pure morality and religious 
devotion are concerned, they are beyond comparison 
with any. In every department, in the drama, in 
history, in philosophy, in theology, in criticism, in 
poetry — epical or lyrical — in all are to be found master- 
pieces of thought and elegant writing that hold their 
own when compared with similar compositions in 



Conclusion. 



159 



literatures of the same or even older growth. The 
wonderful and rapid spreading of the Anglo-Saxon 
race over the vast Western Continent has given a 
wider range to the power and influence of English 
Literature ; the earliest settlers from our own shores 
loved to ponder over the roughly-printed pages from 
the land of their birth, and taught their children to lisp 
the numbers that they had learned in their infancy, or had 
become attached to in later years ; and as they spread 
gradually from south to north, and towards the west, 
along with them they not only carried their English 
book but their love for reading — their love of the 
literature. And this has grown under an enlightened 
school system, till our English Literature is better 
known to the many in the Western Continent than it 
is in the land that has given it birth. Scarcely a child 
grows up in the United States without a considerable 
acquaintance with the great English writers from the 
earliest period. 

English Literature, therefore, bears the test of time, 
and proves its innate worth by appealing successfully 
to the heart, and this apart from local association or 
love of country. A further proof is afforded in the 
fact that, till lately, there has been but little American 
Literature ; not because there was no genius to origi- 
nate it, but because the literature of the Old country 
was of such sterling quality, and so good, that to 
supplement it or put anything else in its place almost 
amounted to a crime. 

Begun when the glories of Rome and Greece were 
fading, and " It is finished " had been written in golden 
letters after their literature. Begun when mental 
darkness reigned almost supreme in Britain, nurtured 
amid the noise of battle and the tumult of invasion, 
hidden in the breasts of baxds and song- singers, stricken 
down by conquerers, smothered under forms and fettered 
by rules, made ridiculous by enthusiasts and weakened 
by those who intended to strengthen, it has yet become 
what it is, and attained a foremost and proud position. 



160 



Conclusion. 



It cannot fail to strike all who make a close and 
familiar acquaintance witii the works in all branches of 
onr literature, that to an extraordinary degree does the 
love of right and truth characterize it. The works are 
few that breathe anything to the contrary. True, many 
have been written that have had for their object the 
sc offing at religion and morality, but it is an undoubted 
fact that not only have the great majority of English 
authors from the earliest times been on the side of 
right, but that few works have lived that inculcated 
opposite views. In this lies its great strength. The 
earliest prose writers, it must not be forgotten, wrote 
not with sordid motives. To them it was a joyful 
thing to lead their fellows to purity, to encourage them 
in good things. Their writings universally advocate 
religion, order, and morality. The Saxon writers, rough 
and homely as they were, wanted all men to be right 
and do right, as there was another and happier land, 
where only the good could enter in. Later on, whether 
in the Sermons of Latimer or the Hhyro.es of Gower, the 
same is observable. With such a foundation it could 
not but live and nourish, and it is a matter for rejoicing 
that the leaven has never failed. The savour of the 
righteous salt is riot lost now. Many a time and oft 
have crises occurred that threatened to overturn all this ; 
indeed, premiums have been offered for the purpose, but 
at the bottom of the English character there has ever 
been the Saxon love of truth ; and while this is so, no 
style, no language, no opinions can live that are vicious, 
or that are not virtuous. 

The glorious burst of thought and opinion in the days 
of Elizabeth, which may be said to have made literature 
a national thing, and gave it a vigour and elegance far 
beyond what it had hitherto possessed, was due to the 
Reformation, or grand protest by honest men against the 
vices and immorality of a corrupt Church and priesthood. 
The earnestness which is shown in the Puritan writ- 
ings came of the attempts to degrade law and order 
by the Royalists, and the religious fervour of Milton 



Conclusion. 



161 



not only inspired the most glorious poem of our 
literature, but gave to it that power which has enabled 
it to live and command the admiration and affection of 
succeeding ages, and overshadow the best attempts of 
the age that neglected, if it did not scoff at it. And so 
it shall ever be : no writer will ever live, no work will 
ever survive, that is not built upon the foundation laid 
down at the commencement. 

Manliness is another and most important characteristic 
of English Literature ; occasionally it has been obscured 
by meaningless forms and fulsome expressions, but it 
has ever been bold and original. As a strong man 
bound, it lay a prisoner in the Euphuism of Elizabeth's 
court, or hidden amid the "word rubbish" of the eigh- 
teenth century. It is manly in this respect — not afraid 
of the truth. English authors of repute, with few 
exceptions, have never shrunk, when true and bitter 
things had to be said, from saying them. It is also 
manly in the sense of being human. This, perhaps, 
more so than any other literature. In its intense 
humanity lies, to a large extent, the secret of its popu- 
larity, and the secret of its vivacity. One of the prime 
and essential qualities required in a literature is the 
power of addressing man as man, and of successfully 
appealing to his passions, his emotions, his vices and 
virtues, and this it is that makes the difference between 
the literature of knowledge and the literature of power ; 
as Mr. De Quincey has said, " The function of the one 
is to teach the function of the second to move. The 
very highest work that has ever existed in the literature 
of knowledge is but a provisional work ; a book upon 
trial and sufferance. Let its teaching be even partially 
revised, let it be but expanded, nay, even let its teaching 
be but placed in a better order, and instantly it is super- 
seded. Whereas the feeblest work in the literature of 
power, surviving at all, survives as finished and un- 
alterable among men. For instance, the ' Principia ' of 
Sir Isaac Newton was a book militant on earth from 
the first. In all stages of its progress it would have 



162 



Conclusion. 



to -fight for its existence : first, as regards absolute truth ; 
secondly, when that combat is oyer, as regards its form 
or mode of presenting the truth. And. as soon as a La 
Place or anybody else builds higher upon the foundations 
laid by this book, effectually he throws it out of the 
sunshine into decay and darkness ; by weapons even 
from this book he superannuates and destroys it, so 
that soon the name of Newton remains as a mere 
nominis unibra, but his book, as a living power, has 
transmigrated into other forms. Now, on the contrary, 
the 'Iliad,' the 'Prometheus' of ^Eschylus, the 'Othello' 
or 'King Lear,' the 'Hamlet' or 'Macbeth,' and the 
e Paradise Lost ' are no militant but triumphant power 
as long as the languages exist in which they speak or 
can be taught to speak. They never can transmigrate 
into new incarnations. . . All the literature of know- 
ledge builds only ground-nests, that are swept away by 
floods, or confounded by the plough ; but the literature 
of power builds nests in aerial altitudes, of temples 
sacred from violation, or of forests inaccessible to fraud. 
Tins is a great prerogative of the pozt'er-literature. 

. . The knGwledge-liteT&iuve, like the fashion of 
this world, passeth away." 

In conclusion, let it be borne in mind that a great 
portion of our literature was written for a purpose, 
and. this purpose, the spirit and aim of the author, must 
not be forgotten by the student. In reading the works 
of Chaucer, for instance, or Gower, or WyclhTe, or 
Ascham, of Clarendon, Burnet, or Butler/ the times in 
which they lived, the circumstances of their life, the 
part they played in the politics, the religion, the strife 
of their times, must be considered, if a true appreciation 
of their works is desired. 

The literature of any age is to a large extent the reflex 
of passing events, and the influence of these events is 
more or less discernible to readers in after times. The 
plain facts of history, therefore, meet with wonderful 
explanation from such literature, and enable us to arrive 
at our own conclusions as to their causes and effects. 



Conclusion, 



163 



Many a dark historical passage is enlightened by a page 
of thought from a writer who lived at the time when 
the events took place, the impressions of which were 
fresh on his mind at the time. In the same way as a 
student two hundred years hence may draw a tolerably 
faithful picture of English life at the present time from 
the pages of " Vanity Fair," so Latimer's Sermons afford 
us a faithful picture, not only of the habits of men, but 
the thoughts that agitated men's minds at the time they 
were preached ; and as from Grower's " Vox Clamantis " we 
get an explanation of the circumstances of the Wat Tyler 
rebellion, such as no history has afforded, so Russell's 
Letters, reprinted from the Times, will give to readers in 
times to come an insight into the Crimean War such as 
a mere historical record could never give. 

If all this is borne in mind, students of English Litera- 
ture will find an interest apart from the delight of perusal 
of the works of this or that author. Fresh ideas as to 
the history of England will be engendered, and a 
wider and more expansive grasp upon the bearing of the 
great national events of past times be obtained. 

As to the benefits of a study of English Literature 
per se, they are not questioned, nor need they be 
dilated upon. To become acquainted with the noble 
and chaste minds of those gifted men, whose works 
are left as a precious heirloom to the world, must 
raise the thoughts and hopes and aspirations. The 
universality of their works, and the intense humanity 
they display, make the study one of the best and plea- 
santest. The student need bring but little learning. 
With the exception of a few of the earlier poems, a 
knowledge of the English language of the present day 
suffices. Thus it is brought within the range of all 
Englishmen, as soon as they can read and understand 
their mother-tongue. And, without doubt, were greater 
attention paid to this department of study, were it a 
part of the programme of every college and school, 
were the knowledge of it recognized as much a neces- 
sity as a knowledge of history, there would be less 



164 



Conclusion. 



hankering after the puerile literature that the present 
day sees so much of. The great storehouse of English 
literature lies open to all ; it contains glorious and 
never-fading beauties of prose and poetry, such as can 
never be overshadowed, if reached — poetry which is 
prose, and prose that is poetry. The perfection of a 
literature is in the true combination of its poetry and 
prose, which bear to each other a relation which has 
been imaged with equal truth and fancy in these simple 
stanzas : — 

I looked upon a plain of green 

That some one called the land of prose, 

Where many living things were seen 
In movement or repose. 

I looked upon a stately hill, 

That well was named the mount of song, 

Where golden shadows dwelt at will, 
The woods and streams among. 

But most this fact my wonder bred, 
Though known by all the nobly wise — 

Jt was the mountain streams that fed 
That fair green plain's amenities. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



The literature of America is yet in its infancy, and 
many of its best authors are still living. They do not, 
therefore, come within the scope of this work. Some 
few, however, distinguished themselves during the last 
century, and earned such a place that they cannot be 
ignored altogether. 

The literature is yet in its infancy : it must not be 
forgotten, however, that its writers have drawn their 
information from the fountain-head of our own litera- 
ture, that their language is the same as ours, and it 
may be proudly acknowledged that, with a few ex- 
ceptions, their aim is identical with our best English 
authors. " 

The earliest form developed seems to have been the 
Diary. This is not to be wondered at, seeing the manner 
in which the early settlements by Englishmen took 
place. The country was full of new beauties, fresh 
scenes, new forms of life, and the circumstances of the 
growth of the settlements were peculiar. Ail this made 
a diary not only interesting, but in the after events that 



168 



Appendix. 



took place it became a basis on which greater historical 
works could be built. 

Theological literature seems next to have been pro- 
duced. The Pilgrim Fathers were men of piety and . 
learning, and as soon as they could they left enduring 
records of their thoughts and opinions. Gradually, 
however, the other and lighter forms were introduced, 
and at the present time may be found distinguished 
representatives of each. 

The literature of Romance and Fiction is the earliest 
with which we became acquainted, and in this depart- 
ment some few authors stand prominently out. History, 
too, has given us some writers that, for painstaking 
research and careful elaboration, occupy a worthy 
position. In the higher departments of intellectual 
exertion, there are not many works that can be said to 
be masterpieces, either in original invention or discovery, 
or as models of skill or the art of communication. A 
native, classical literature does not yet exist, — nothing 
has yet appeared that can claim a high position as an 
epic poem. The solid literature is almost entirely 
practical in its aims and objects. It displays undeniably 
much energy of thinking, especially when those 
"practical questions are dealt with towards which the 
national temper and the cast of the social institutions 
concur in determining the public taste." 

In the past, the nation had all the literature of the 
old country to fall back upon, and, moreover, the time 
and attention of the Americans have been taken up by 
the more important question of developing the resources 
of the country, and in the events of political, social, and 
religious life. Now, however, the foundation has been 
made, and the structure is being slowly but surely 
raised. 

" Our hope of future good from the Transatlantic 
literature of our language will be the more lively when 
we remember, that almost all its past efforts may be 
said to have been made within a period of hardly more 
than forty years ; and that, likewise, the literary pro- 



American Literature. 



169 



ducts of the latter half of that time have far surpassed 
those of the preceding half, not in number only, but in 
value. Those works that belong to the last twenty 
years are very like in character to the contemporaneous 
writings that have appeared in England ; and their 
merit, if insufficient to constitute a brilliant era in 
literary history, is yet such as to strengthen, in no small 
measure, the claim of our generation to that secondary 
rank which it holds in virtue of our native produc- 
tions." 

There is but little doubt that in the course of the 
next fifty or hundred years the authors of America 
will command a prominent position in the literature of 
the English language. 



JOHN WINTHROP. 
1587-1649. 

John Winthrop, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, and some 
time governor of Massachusetts, was the author of a 

DIARY OF EVENTS 

that took place in that colony down to the year 1644. 
It is an interesting account of the early struggles of the 
Puritan settlers. 



COTTON MATHEE. 
1663-1728. 

APuritan minister and nonconformist divine atBoston, 
Massachusetts. 

He was born at Boston, and having passed through 
the studies of Harvard University, entered on the 
duties of his sacred office in 1684. He distinguished 
himself by his philanthropical efforts, and he may be 
regarded as in some sense the progenitor of our Peace 
Societies, for he established an institution of Peace- 



170 



Appendix. 



makers, whose professed object was to settle differences 
between private individuals, as others would settle differ- 
ences among nations, by the interposition of friendly 
offices. Though an intelligent man, he was not free 
from the baneful prejudice which made men not only 
believe in witches, but shockingly punish the innocent 
persons whom they held to bear that character. 

MAGNALIA CHRISTI AMERICANA. 

This work is an ecclesiastical history of New England. 



JONATHAN EDWARDS. 
1703-1753. 

Born at East Windsor, Connecticut. After some 
years' study, and when only nineteen years of age, 
he was licensed as a minister of the Congregational 
denomination. In 1757 he was confirmed in the office 
of president in the college of New Jersey, which 
honourable position he held but a few months, for he 
was seized in the following year with small-pox and 
died. 

THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL. 
HISTORY OF REDEMPTION. 
TRUE VIRTUE. 
ORIGINAL SIN. 

The first mentioned is his principal work, and is 
considered to be a perfect masterpiece of sound meta- 
physical reasoning. The " Treatises," three of which 
are mentioned, " display great power of thought, warm 
piety, and a profound acquaintance with the scrip- 
tures." 



JOHN WOOLMAN. 
1720-1772. 

A Quaker, who made a tour through England, and 



American Literature, 



171 



published the results of his observations in the form 
of a 

JOURNAL. 

Charles Lamb was exceedingly pleased with the book 
and its reflections. 



. JOHN LEDYARD. 
1751-1789. 

A traveller in all parts of the world, published the 
narratives of his journeys in Siberia and Central Africa. 

He was born at Groton, in Connecticut, and educated 
at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire. Unable to 
follow up his studies for want of means, he worked his 
passage from New York to London as a common sailor, 
and sailed with Captain Cook on his third voyage. Set- 
ting out from England with ten guineas in his pocket, 
he traversed Denmark and Sweden, passed round the 
head of the Gulf of Bothnia, and reached St. Peters- 
burg (1787), without money, shoes, or stockings, having 
gone this immense distance on foot in an Arctic winter. 
He was carried off by a bilious fever, when on his way 
to Africa. 



JOHN WITHERSPOON. 
1722-1794. 

A native of Scotland, and president of the college of 
New Jersey, was the author of a work entitled 

ECCLESIASTICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 
170G-1799. 

Born at Boston, New England. At an early age he 
was apprenticed to a printer, and by industry and pru- 
dence, combined with integrity and genius, he rose to a 



172 



Appendix. 



high position among his countrymen. He took a con- 
siderable share in all the great political movements of 
his time, especially during the war of Independence, 
when he acted as minister plenipotentiary at the Court 
of France, and successfully used his powers of states- 
manship to secure the co-operation of the French for 
his countrymen against England. 

THE WAY TO WEALTH. 
SCIENTIFIC PAPERS. 
ESSAYS. 
LETTERS. 

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 

"The Way to Wealth" is a collection of the pro- 
verbial philosophy which is tobe found in "Poor Richard's 
Almanac," which he began in 1732, and carried on for 
twenty-five years. His greatest fame was won, however, 
by his scientific discoveries, and especially his researches 
into the laws of electricity. "The Essays" are upon 
various subjects, historical, political, and commercial, 
and display the most profound wisdom and insight into 
the motives that actuate men's actions. His "Autobio- 
graphy," in which he traces his career and gives the 
rules of his life and conduct, is a book that should be 
read by every young man. 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON. 
1757-1804. 

A celebrated lawyer and statesman, who distinguished 
himself during the Revolution. He was the editor and 
author of the 

FEDERALIST ; 

a journal that played a prominent part in the political 
discussions of its day. 



American Literature. 



173 



CHARLES B. BROWNE. 
1771-1810. 

Born in Philadelphia. Was the author of some well- 
known works. 

ARTHUR MERVYN. 
EDGAR HUNTLY. 
WIELAND. 
ORMOND. 

They are works that do not display a high order of 
merit, but are pleasant and readable. 



TIMOTHY D WIGHT. 
1752-1817. 

Born at Northampton, Massachusetts. He was edu- 
cated for and ordained a Congregational minister, and 
afterwards became an army chaplain, and president of 
Yale College. 

THEOLOGY EXPLAINED AND DEFENDED. 

HISTORY, ELOQUENCE, AND POETRY OF THE BIBLE. 

The former is his chief work, and it occupies a fore- 
most place among theological writings. It is clearly, 
logically, and profoundly written. 



WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING. 
1780-1842. 

Born at Newport, Rhode Island, and educated at 
Harvard College, where he greatly distinguished him- 
self by his scholarship and high attainments. After 
leaving college he became a tutor in Virginia, and in 
1803 was ordained minister of a Unitarian church, in 
Boston. He was a noted lecturer and a firm opponent 
of slavery. 



i 
i 



174 



Appendix. 



NATIONAL LITERATUKE. 
MILTON. 

THE ELEVATION OF THE LABOURING CLASSES. 
DISCOURSES UPON THE EVIDENCES OF RELIGION. 

The latter is Lis chief theological work. The Dis- 
courses as well as most of his works were delivered as 
orations and addresses in public. His writings are 
distinguished for most original thoughts and language 
of the most brilliant eloquence, combined with delicacy 
and beauty. 

"He is greater as a writer than as a thinker : nor 
has he energy enough to claim honour as a writer of 
the first class. But his purity and seriousness of sen- 
timent, his philanthropy and his unostentatious courage, 
have won respect for him, as a man actuated by a truly 
religious spirit, from those who reject most decidedly 
his views of religious doctrine." 

"Regarding Christianity not as a system of dogmas, 
but as a power for the renewing of all human relations, 
bringing forward with unusual emphasis the high dig- 
nity and destination of man, Channing stood at the 
head of his denomination in America, and exerted a 
great influence generally, as well as over his fellow- 
believers in England and France. Being himself per- 
vaded by the spirit of Christian love and moral feeling, 
he possessed the power of seizing the attention and 
carrying away the heart." 



JOSEPH STORY. 
1779-1845. 

A distinguished American judge, was born at Mar- 
blehead, in Massachusetts. He was educated at Har- 
vard University, was called to the bar in 1801, and 
soon became eminent in his profession. He was elected 
a member of the State Legislature of Massachusetts, 
and was chosen a member of Congress. In 1811 he 
*was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, and was afterwards chosen 



American Literature. 



175 



Professor of Jurisprudence at Harvard University. 
His " Legal Writings" are highly distinguished for their 
knowledge and clearness. 



ALEXANDER EVERETT. 
1700-1847. 

Born at Boston, and distinguished as a diplomatist. 

EUROPE. 

NEW IDEA OP POPULATION. 
AMERICA. 

These and other essays display great talent, and in 
many places brilliant writing. 



•EDGAR ALLAN POE. 
1811-1849. 

An author whose reckless intemperance brought his 
life to an early close. He was born at Baltimore, and 
after following various professions turned author : pos- 
sessed of the greatest talent, and friends who could 
help him, he might have risen to a first place among 
American literary men. 

THE RAVEN. 
ANNABEL LEE. 
PROSE TALES. 

The well-known poem of " The Raven " is " an ex- 
quisite piece of mystery and music." "Annabel Lee" 
is a lament for his dead wife, in a most tender and 
melancholy strain, and is one of the sweetest lyrics 
in the language. 

The prose tales are full of the most sensational in- 
terest, and the most wild and absorbing speculation. 



176 



Appendix. 



JOHN JAMES AUDUBON. 
1780-1851. 

The son of a French admiral, who settled in Louis- 
iana, and a great traveller and student of natural his- 
tory. He wrote a trustworthy and valuable book upon 

THE BIEDS OF AMERICA, 

which is not only cleverly but pleasantly written. 



J. F. COOPER. 
1789-1851. 

Born at Burlington, in New Jersey. He was for 
some time in the United States navy. He afterwards 
retired into private life and devoted himself to litera- 
ture, residing the while on the border of Ostego Lake. 

PRECAUTION. 

THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. 

THE PRAIRIE. 

THE PATHFINDER. 

THE DEERSLAYER. 

THE PILOT. 

THE SPY. 

Cooper was eminently successful throughout his bril- 
liant literary course in the depicting of Indian and 
naval scenes. His novels are well known on both sides 
of the Atlantic. The " Pilot," perhaps, stands first in 
order of merit, the character of Long Tom Coffin 
being pre-eminently his best creation. The " Spy " is 
very popular tale, founded upon the history of the 
American war. 

It is, perhaps, a fair criticism of them by Mr. Spald- 
ing, when he says that they give u evidence of careless 
haste, both in their matter and in their diction ; they 
are also distinctively American, not in their topics 
only, but in their tone of opinion and feeling. No 
failure, again, could be more decided than their strain- 
ings at wit or humour, and their attempts at describing 



American Literature. 



177 



or estimating the features of polished society : their 
picturesqueness, too, though striking, is in no small 
degree theatrical and overwrought ; but there is a 
wonderful impressiveness in the author's sketches from 
his favourite fields of observation, the perilous adven- 
tures of the mariner, and the half- savage life of the 
settler in the wilderness." 



JOHN LLOYD STEPHENS. 
1805-1852. 

Born in New Jersey. He spent a considerable por- 
tion of his time wandering through Europe and Asia ; 
Central America also engaged his attention, and while 
surveying the Isthmus of Panama, with a view of con- 
necting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by railway, he 
overtasked his strength and died. 

INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL 

is an interesting and well written account of his wan- 
derings. 



WASHINGTON IRVING. 
1783-1859. 

Born at New York, the descendant of an ancient 
Orkney family. His father was a merchant, and edu- 
cated him for the bar, Shortly after his admission he 
began his contributions to literature. In 1815 he came 
to Liverpool to manage a branch of the firm of Irving 
Brothers, but the house failed, and its representative 
turned author by profession. He resided several years 
at Madrid, and while in England, in 1830, he received 
one of the gold medals, conferred by George IV., for 
his eminence in historical writing. He died at his 
pleasant residence, Sunnyside, on the Hudson. 

SALMAGUNDI. 

HISTORY OF NEW YORK. 

SKETCH-BOOK OF GEOFFREY CRAYON. 

N * 



178 



Appendix. 



BRACSBRIDGE HALL. 
TALES OF A TRAVELLER. 
LIFE OF COLUMBUS. 
CONQUEST OF GRANADA. 
COMPANIONS OF COLUMBUS. 
TALES OF THE ALHAMBRA. 
TOUR ON THE PRAIRIES. 
ABBOTSFORD AND NEWSTEAD ABBEY. 

ASTORIA, BEYOND THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 

CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE. 
• LIFE OF GOLDSMITH. 

MAHOMET AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 

WOLFERT'S ROOST. 

LIFE OF WASHINGTON. 

The "History of New York," by Diedrich Knicker- 
bocker, as Irving styled himself, is a quaint burlesque 
picture of the life of the old Dutch and Swedish 
colonists. The " Sketch-book," which was published in 
England after the failure of the firm with which he was 
connected, was submitted to Sir Walter Scott, who 
pronounced a most favourable opinion upon it. The 
nom deplume of the author in this case was Geoffrey 
Crayon. 

It would take too long to go through the list of 
Irving's works. For nearly half a century he was 
before the public as novelist, essayist, historian, and 
biographer. His " Life of Columbus " is a most com- 
plete work, and displays the greatest research. His 
residence in Spain enabled him to devote considerable 
time to obtaining all the information that access to 
Spanish records could give. 

u Whatever his subject — an English manor-house, 
with bright fires and Christmas snow — a drowsy Dutch 
farm- steading in Sleepy Hollow — a moonlit court in 
the Alhambra — the great Italian sailor — the sweet- 
souled Irish author — the simply noble American general 
— we are charmed by the poetic graces of his fancy and 
the liquid music of his style." 

" Inclining always towards a finical elaboration of 
style, and a feminine refinement of serious sentiment, 



American Literature. 



179 



which combine to enfeeble their general effect, the 
writings of this graceful novelist and essayist are yet 
among the most pleasing to which our time has given 
birth." In his later works of fiction, through which he 
is best known to English readers, he evinces his great 
partiality for English tastes and English literature, and 
they are all free from that acerbity of tone and those 
sneering remarks that have marred the descriptions 
of some other writers who have visited England. Not 
only are his works graceful, but many of them are full 
of a rich humour and sparkling wit. Irving stands 
among the very first writers that America has produced, 
and whatever he wrote he wrote well. In history, his 
facts may be relied on ; and though he wrote no great 
historical work that can put him on a level with 
Macaulay, his " Columbus, " Conquest of Granada," 
" Companions of Columbus," " Mahoniet and his Suc- 
cessors," and " Life of Washington," are important and 
valuable aids to the historian, The early history of 
America, and her after struggles for independence and 
territory, are faithfully and truthfully pictured, while 
the story reads as a romance. 



WILLIAM HICKLING PEESCOTT. 
1798-1859. 

Born at Salem, Massachusetts. While at college, he 
was accidentally deprived of the sight of one eye by the 
throwing of a crust. The sight of his other eye failed 
him some time before his death, which rendered him 
unable to read or write. His death was caused by 
paralysis. 

THE REIGN OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 

CONQUEST OF MEXICO. 

CONQUEST OF PERU. 

HISTORY OF PHILIP II. OF SPAIN. 

Prescott is the chief of American historians, and all 



180 



Appendix. 



his works display the closest research and greatest faith- 
fulness. They have been remarkably successful, and 
take a high position among works of a similar kind in 
other countries. 

" His narratives," says Mr. Spalding, " are equally ad- 
mirable for their animation and their grace ; though far 
from being philosophical, he is solidly and reflectively 
instructive in works which, at the same time, hurry 
us along with the fascination of a romance ; and, pur- 
suing his studies under a deprivation almost parallel to 
the blindness of Milton, he has yet gained just credit 
for extraordinary fulness of research, as well as for 
scrupulous accuracy in recording its results." 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Athelstan's Song .... 8 

! Aldred 8 

Addison 83 

Akenside 103 

Armstrong 108 

Anstey. ...... 118 

B. 

Beowulf 5 

Battle of Finsborough . . 7 

Brunanburgh War Song . 8 

Barbour 18 

Blind Harry 23 

Barclay 30 

Buchanan 39 

Browne 54 

Butler 70 

Blair 96 

Bruce 103 

Burns 110 

Beattie 116 

Bloomfield 124 

Byron 125 

Barton 150 

C. 

Caedmon 6 

Chanson de Roland ... 12 



PAGE 

Chaucer 19 

Carew 50 

Cart wright 53 

Crash aw 56 

Cleveland 58 

Cowley 62 

Chalkhill 70 

Cotton 73 

Chamberlayne .... 73 

Collins 99 

Churchill 101 

Chatterton 105 

Cowper 113 

Crabbe 129 

Coleridge . . . . . . 134 

Campbell 145 

Cunningham 143 

D. 

Dunbar 28 

Douglas 30 

Davies 45 

Drayton ...... 46 

Donne 47 

Drummond ..... 55 

Davenant 64 

Denham 65 

Dillon 71- 

Dryden 78 



182 



Index. 



PAGE 

Dyer . 100 

Darwin 116 

E. 

Elegy on King Edgar . . 8 

Elliot 150 

F. 

Fonr Sons of Agnion . . 12 

Fletcher, Giles .... 57 

Fletcher, Phineas ... 57 

Fanshawe 60 

Falconer 101 

Fergnsson 108 

Frere 119 

G. 

Gower 21 

Goderich 8 

Gascoigne 39 

Gay 85 

Gray 106 

Goldsmith 107 

Graham e 119 

Ginbrd 128 

H. 

Haveloc 12 

Henry son 28 

Hawes 30 

Herbert 48 

Hall 58 

Herrick 66 

Heber 128 

Hogg 139 

Hemans 1 40 

Hood 14/ 

I. 

Tscanus 13 



J. 

Judith 7 

James the First of Scotland 25 

James the First of England 45 

Johnson . . . . " . . 108 

K. 

King 65 

Keats .121 

L. 

Langue d'Oc 9 

Langue d'Oyl ..... 11 

Layamon 14 

Langland I J 

Lydgate 2G 

Lyndsay 38 

Lovelace 59 

Logan 109 

Leyden 120 

Landon 141 

M. 

Merlin 5 

Map 13 

Mannyng 14 

Minot 21 

Milton 67 

Marvell 69 

Mickle 109 

Macpherson 110 

Mason 112 

Moore 153 

Montgomery 155 

N. 

Nicoll . 141 



Index. 



0. 

Orme 13 

Occleve 25 

P. 

Psalter of Cashel ... 5 

Phillips 82 

Parnell 82 

Prior 83 

Pope 92 

Phillips, Ambrose ... 98 

Percy 119 

Pollok 129 

Pringle 139 

Praed 142 

Q. 

Quarles ....... 54 

R. 

Richard Cceur de Lion . . 10 

Romance Literature . . 11 

Roland and Ferrabras . . 12 

Robert of Gloucester . . 14 

Rowe 82 

Ramsay 100 

Rogers 156 

S. 

Skelton 31 

Surrey 36 

Sidney 40 

Southwell 41 

Spenser 42 

Shakspeare 45 

Suckling 52 

Shirley 60 

Sackville 72 

Sedley 82 

Somerville 87 

Savage 87 



PAGE 

Swift 96 

Shenstone. ..... 101 

Smart 104 

Smollett 107 

Shelley 122 

Sotheby 134 

Spencer, Hon. W. R. . . 138 

Scott • 132 

Smith, James . . . . 142 

Southey 143 

Smith, Horace .... 149 

T. 

Taliesin 5 

Traveller's Song ..... 7 

Troubadours ..... 9 

Trouvere 9 

Thomas the Rhymer . . 14 

Tusser 39 

Turberville 41 

Tickell 86 

Thomson 97 

Tannahill 119 

Tighe 118 

W. 

Welsh Triads 5 

Wace 13 

Wyntoun 23 

Wyatt 35 

Wotton 49 

Wither 61 

Wilmot 71 

Waller 72 

Watts 96 

Warton 112 

White 117 

Wolfe 124 

Wordsworth 150 

Wilson 147 



184 



Index. 



INDEX TO APPENDIX 



Audubon 176 

Browne 173 

Cooper 176 

Channing 173 

D wight 173 

Edwards 170 

Everett 175 

Franklin 171 

Hamilton 172 

Irving 177 



AMERICAN AUTHORS. 



Ledyard 171 

Mather 169 

Poe 175 

Prescott 179 

Story 174 

Stephens 177 

Winthrop 169 

Woolman 170 

Witherspoon 171 



Woodfall and Kinder, Printers, Milford Lane, Strand, London, W.C, 



HANDBOOK 

OF 

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 



PROSE AND DRAMATIC WRITERS. 



BY 

WILLIAM GEORGE LARKINS, 

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY ; FELLOW OF THE STATISTICAL 
SOCIETY ; SECRETARY OF THE METROPOLITAN ASSOCIATION FOR 
PROMOTING THE EDUCATION OF ADULTS. 



LONDON: 
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, 

THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE. 
1867, 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 

Uniform in style and price, 

A HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE 

POETRY. 



TO 

THE PRINCIPAL AND STUDENTS 

OF KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON, 
WHEKE 

MY LOVE FOR OUR NOBLE ENGLISH LITERATURE WAS FIRST FORMED 

AND DEVELOPED, 

UNDER THE ABLE GUIDANCE 
OF 

PROFESSOR HENRY MORLEY ; 

AND 

IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE MANY PLEASANT HOURS I SPENT THERE 
THIS LITTLE WORK. 



PEEFAC E. 



This Handbook is a modest attempt on the part of 
the Author to supply, in a cheap, concise, and learn- 
able form, what is really necessary to enable any one to 
acquire a tolerable knowledge of the history, rise, 
progress, and authors of our English Literature. 

It was suggested by his own want, while a student, 
of a portable epitome, unencumbered with long biogra- 
phical essays or illustrative extracts. For this reason 
it will be found to recommend itself to students of 
all grades, especially to those of Evening Classes, &c. 
Another object that the Author has in view is the pro- 
motion of a more general study of English Literature 
in schools. Such study has been to a large extent neg- 
lected, while it certainly as much deserves a place in 
the system of education as does English History. 
The study of both should be simultaneous, in order to 
obtain a true appreciation of either. 



viii 



Preface. 



The matter wliicli fills the following pages is drawn 
largely from notes taken in the lecture-room, and the 
resnlts of the critical reading of many books, all of which 
is woven together by a thread of originality. Entire 
originality is not claimed ; for wherever the language of 
■another expressed the meaning better than his own, 
the Author has adopted such language. He only regrets 
that the necessarily small space at his disposal prevents 
him from acknowledging, otherwise than by marks of 
quotation, the obligation he is under. 

The order followed in the arrangement of the 
various writers, is to take the date of their death. 
This is not the usual order, but it seems to be a more 
satisfactory one, as the writers are generally reflected 
by, as well as being a reflex of, the times in which they 
lived. 

It has also been concluded to stop somewhere about 
the year 1845, all writers this side of that date being 
fairly within the knowledge of the present day. 

Let it also be borne in mind, that this is only a hand- 
book, and is not intended to supplement any more ex- 
tensive works on the same subject, and does not profess 
to be extremely critical. The Author only hopes to lead 
those who may follow him to the fountain from which 



Preface. 



ix 



lie trusts they will drink at their leisure and inclination 
many a refreshing draught. 

The student should carefully read the introduction to 
each period, before proceeding to the accounts of the 
writers and their works. 



CONTENTS. 



PROSE WRITERS. 

PAGE 

Introduction 1 

FIRST PERIOD. 

Extending from Mandeville to the Middle of the Sixteenth 

Century 12 

SECOND PERIOD. 

Including the Revival of Letters which followed the Introduction 

of the Art of Printing, and the Italian Influence . . . . 28 

THIRD PERIOD. 

Puritan and Civil War Influence 46 

FOURTH PERIOD. 

French Influence, commencing with Dryden . . _ 66 

FIFTH PERIOD. 

Modern Popular Influence, inaugurated by Daniel Defoe . . . 85 

DRAMATIC WRITERS. 

Introduction .133 

Authors 142 



1 



HANDBOOK 

OP 

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 



PEOSE AND DRAMATIC WRITERS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The foundations of our English Literature were laid 
when the Saxons were converted to Christianity by the 
preaching of Augustine. With Christianity came the 
dawn of civilization and learning in England. The 
efforts of the forty monks, sent with Augustine by Pope 
Gregory to Britain in 596, were singularly successful. 
In one year Ethelbert, King of Kent, with ten thousand 
of his people, abjured their appalling superstitions to 
embrace the gentler doctrines of the Gospel; and within 
fifty years the Christian faith had been adopted through- 
out the various kingdoms forming the Saxon Heptarchy. 
At Canterbury was established first a cathedral and 
then a school, the latter supplied with books by the 
munificence of Gregory. This school, which soon 
became famous, is well said to have been "the first 
national school in England." 

To the exertions of Bishop Theodore, a great and 
enthusiastic patron of learning, and himself an author 
of repute, as well as to the labours of his friend 
Hadrian, described by Malmesbury as being " a foun- 
tain of letters and a river of arts," do we owe the 
foundation of our scholarship. 

B 



2 



Handbook of 



From this time to tlie commencement of the ninth 
century, schools were established in various places, and 
learning increased. One of the most noted of the schools 
was that of York, supported by Archbishop Egbert, 
and rendered attractive by the great reputation of 
Alcuin, its learned president. 

The course of study is represented as including 
" grammar and composition, classics, arithmetic, and 
dialectics." Another important school was that of 
Wearmouth, an offshoot of the Canterbury school, 
where Bede spent the many years of his student life. 

In the beginning of the ninth century a decline in 
learning took place, to be attributed to the incursions of 
the Danes. So great was this decline, that when Alfred 
ascended the throne the most deplorable ignorance pre- 
vailed, and but one or two of the Churchmen who daily 
read the Latin service could understand one word of 
what they uttered : both priests and people had fallen 
into the most degraded condition. 

Alfred made the greatest possible efforts to re-estab- 
lish both piety and learning. He invited to his court all 
the learned men of Europe, and rebuilt all the monas- 
teries which the Danes had destroyed. In order that 
all classes of his subjects might obtain instruction, he 
established a system of national public school education ; 
and that his people might read and learn for themselves, 
he endeavoured to create an Anglo-Saxon literature. 
His efforts for this object were untiring, especially in 
translating with his own hand a number of Latin 
works. 

With all Alfred's exertions, however, a decline in 
learning again took place after his death. It was almost 
impossible for the country to bear up against the un- 
ceasing strife to which it was subject. Education 
found no home in the camp, and England was one great 
battle-field. Edward the Elder and Athelstan, Alfred's 
immediate successors, did what they could to sustain 
and carry on what he began ; but neither their efforts 
nor the influence of the schools of Glastonbury and 



English Literature. 



8 



Winchester, which still flourished under the care of 
Dunstan and JElfric, was sufficient to keep burning the 
lamp of learning. As far as Anglo-Saxon literature 
is concerned, it did go out, and the "tenth century 
closed in darkness," which reigned — with the exception 
of a brief interval of light in the time of Canute — till 
the Conquest. 

Among the works of the early Anglo-Saxon writers, 
there are few to be found in the Anglo-Saxon tongue. 
Latin being the language of the Church, and the great 
source from whence all the learning of the age had been 
obtained, it was natural that the first books should be 
in the Roman language. Moreover, it was to the 
scholars of other countries than England that the 
authors looked for readers. 

Gil das, the first British prose writer of whom we 
have any note, lived in the sixth century. His works 
were a " History of the Britons," and an Epistle, both 
in Latin. 

Aldhelm, born in Wiltshire, was for some time 
Bishop of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire. He wrote many 
works on theology, arithmetic, rhetoric, and grammar, 
which, though pedantic and barbarous in style, display 
great talent. 

Bede, a priest, called afterwards the " Venerable," for 
his piety and learning, was born in 672 and died in 
735. His name stands foremost in the literature of 
Britain. At the age of seven he entered the monastery 
at Wearmouth, in which he stayed till his death. His 
works, nearly all of which were written in Latin, included 
homilies, treatises on various subjects, commentaries on 
parts of the Scriptures, and lives of the saints, and 
were chiefly theological. The principal was the " Eccle- 
siastical History of the Saxon Church," a work of great 
usefulness, which relates nearly all the public transac- 
tions of the Anglo-Saxon period. It is of the highest 
value, as showing the progress and development of the 
national learning. The style in which it is written is 
simple and easy, and at the end Bede gives a list of 

b 2 



4 



Handbook of 



eight- and-thirty works which lie liad written or com- 
piled. 

Alcuin and John Scotus or Erigena were two of the 
other eminent Latin writers. The former an English- 
man, born in 735 ; the latter an Irishman, whose early 
history is not known. They both carried their learning 
over to the Continent, Alcnin becoming a teacher at 
Aix-la-Chapelle, under Charlemagne, and afterwards 
Abbot of Tours, where he died, 804. Scotus resided 
latterly at the court of Charles the Bald, 



ANGLO-SAXON WRITERS. 

Alfred, King of England, stands foremost among the 
writers of Anglo-Saxon. It is true that his productions 
were chiefly translations, yet he may be given the credit 
of being an original writer, since the translations were 
accompanied by commentaries, reflections, and notes. 
The preface to his translation of Boethius is considered 
to be the best specimen of Anglo-Saxon we possess. 

Alfred's translations were Bede's History, the " Re- 
gula Pastoralis" of Gregory, " De Consolatione Philo- 
sophise," and the "Ancient History of Orosius." 

In translating these works, Alfred was actuated by 
the highest motive — that of instructing his people and 
stimulating a spirit of religion and morality amongst 
them. 

JElfric, Archbishop of Canterbury in the tenth cen- 
tury, was the author of several original works, of which 
a " Glossary of Latin and Saxon Words " and a Saxon 
version of the Latin grammar were long used in the 
English schools. His " Eighty Homilies," written in the 
simplest Anglo-Saxon, are, however, his chief work; 
he died in 1006. 

Dun stan", Abbot of Glastonbury, and afterwards 
Archbishop of Canterbury, was born in 925. His 
monkish life is well known. His works are chiefly 
theological, that best known being " Benedictine Rule," 



English Literature. 



suited for English monks, having its Latin interlined 
with a translation in Anglo-Saxon. 

The " Saxon Chronicle" is perhaps the most valuable 
of all the literature of the period that has come down 
to us. It is said to have been originally compiled 
from Bede by an Archbishop of Canterbury named 
Plegmund, and carried on by him up to the year 891. 
Till 1154, when the registers of the monasteries ceased 
to be kept, the monks regularly added to it an account 
of all events of importance. It thus embraces the 
history of many years, and is in most respects reliable, 
as the scenes are described by those who lived in their 
midst. 

ANGLO-NORMAN WRITERS. 

The Norman Conquest had a great effect on the 
learning and literature of England. In a literary 
sense it means a fusion of new blood, new ideas, new 
thoughts, and new language with what England had 
previous to it. The Anglo-Saxon prelates had, since 
the death of Alfred, gradually become less learned, till 
at the time of the Conquest they were far behind the 
age. A natural consequence of this was that Saxon 
scholarship also declined. When, therefore, the Con- 
quest took place, the Anglo-Saxon prelates had to 
make way for the more polished men of learning from 
the Continent. 

The Conqueror, assisted by Lanfranc, whom he ap- 
pointed Archbishop of Canterbury, set to work with 
great activity to establish schools and religious houses. 
The elevation of the schools of Oxford and Cambridge 
to the dignity of Universities rendered them indepen- 
dent of the Church, and tended much to the general 
diffusion of knowledge. 

The successors of William were also educated men, 
who favoured the advancement of letters. For two 
hundred years "nothing occurred to retard the de- 
velopment of genius, which here and there shone out 



Handbook of 



with more distinctness than it had done for centuries 
before. 5 ' 

The amount of Latin writing during the Norman 
period was very great, and amongst the principal prose 
writers may be mentioned 

William of Malmesbury, born about the date of the 
Conquest, who stands in remarkable prominence among 
the chroniclers. His " History of the English Kings," 
in five books, extends from the landing of the Saxons 
to 1120. To this he afterwards added three other 
books, called " Historia Novella," which carry on the 
history to the year 1142. On the whole his history is 
reliable, though it abounds in the wonderful stories 
and superstitions which are to be found in all books of 
that age. 

Geoffrey of Monmouth, a learned Welsh monk, 
who died in 1154, wrote a " History of the Britons," in 
which he preserved many , legends and stories of the 
Celtic race. Among them is found the story of King 
Arthur and his knights of the Round Table. This 
writer may be said to have been the first English novel 
writer. Most writers at that time confined themselves 
to facts, but Geoffrey allowed his fancy to adorn the 
dim legends he records, and so mixes up fact and 
fiction that they cannot be separated. It marked the 
''beginning of a time when English intellect would 
find for itself many and varied forms of exercise." It 
was a " bright spring of romance in a wilderness of 
record." 

Giraldtjs de Barri, surnamed Cambrensis to mark his 
nationality, and perhaps the most remarkable of the 
writers of this age, was born in 1147, the child of 
William de Barri, a powerful Norman baron of Pem- 
brokeshire, and a Welsh lady of royal descent. He 
received his education at the University of Paris, 
whence he returned to Wales in 1172, and became 
Archdeacon of Brecknock. He succeeded his uncle as 
Bishop of St. David's. The king, Henry II., however, 
not liking the appointment, employed Giraldus on 



English Literature. 



7 



several missions of importance. He sent Mm, in 1185, 
in the train of his son John to Ireland, and to this visit 
we owe two works of the greatest historical and anti- 
quarian value, the " Topographia Hiberniee," and the 
" Vaticinalis Expugnationis Historia." In the latter 
the conquest of Ireland by Strongbow is graphically 
and minutely described. He was again employed by 
the king, in 1188, to preach the crusade in Wales in 
company with Archbishop Baldwin. The " Itinerarium 
Cambrise " was the result of this mission — a valuable 
and well known work. Before he died he wrote the 
history of his own life. 

Roger Bacon, born in 1214, at Ilchester, in Somer- 
setshire, is by far the greatest name in this period. 
His researches in physical science and his" mathema- 
tical and literary attainments were far in advance 
of the age. Educated first at Oxford and afterwards at 
Paris, he made most astonishing discoveries, which ob- 
tained for him the reputation of being a magician and 
dealing in witchcraft, for which he was twice impri- 
soned. On the last occasion he was kept ten years in 
confinement. His chief works are the " Opus Majus," 
"Opus Minus," "Opus Tertium," the "Epistle on the 
Secret Processes of Art and Nature, and the Nullity of 
Magic," " The Mirror of Secrets," and " The Mirror 
of Alchemy." From these it has been proved that 
Bacon must have been acquainted with magnifying 
glasses, that he knew the composition and effects of 
gunpowder, and that he contemplated the possibility 
of steam travelling, both by land and water. 

Matthew Paris, a monk of St. Albans, wrote " His- 
toria Major," or a History of England, commencing 
from the Norman Conquest, and coming down to 1259, 
in which year he died. The whole of the early portion, 
down to 1235, has been appropriated from the " Mores 
Historiarum " of Roger Wendover. So far as it is a 
contemporary authority, this bulky work has always 
been considered as of the highest value, though full of 
prejudice, 



8 



Handbook of 



Nicholas Tkivet, a Dominican, composed a valuable 
and well written series of Annals, extending from 1135 
to 1307. 

Ranulph Higden wrote a work entitled " Polychro- 
nicon," which comes down to the year 1357, and was 
the standard work on general history and geography 
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Latin 
MSS. of it are prodigiously numerous. Chaucer made 
use of it, and it is quoted by other writers. It is 
divided into seven books, of which the first is a sketch 
of Universal Geography, taken from Pliny, Solinus, 
Bede, &c, and the second contains a summary of Uni- 
versal History from the Creation to the destruction of 
the Jewish temple. 

Ingulphus, Ordericus Yitalis, Henry of Huntingdon, 
Roger of Hoveden, were others of note among the early 
historians of England. 

It is worthy of note that a collection of stories, 
gathered from every possible source and translated 
into Latin by some unknown person, appeared at this 
time. It is known as the " Gesta," and many of these 
dim old stories have been taken by Shakspeare, Sir 
"Walter Scott, and others, and clothed with all the 
fancy of their genius. 

The depressed state of the Saxon nation after the 
Conquest, its state of almost slavery, effectually pre- 
vented the writing of many Saxon books. The "Saxon 
Chronicle " was continued on to the year 1154, but 
beyond this no prose works seem to have been written. 

Latin had hitherto been the language of the scholar, 
of the churchman, of education, literature, law, and cor- 
respondence. 

Norman French, however, became at the Conquest the 
language of the upper ranks of society, and divided with 
the Latin tongue the work of expressing the thoughts 
and wishes of the court. Still Saxon remained the 
language of the people ; not, however, without a gradual 
change taking place in its character. In course of time, 
as intercourse took place between the various ranks 



English Literature. 



9 



of society, the two languages melted into one another. 
The Saxon merchants had to learn Norman in order to 
serve their rich customers, and the upper ranks had to 
learn Saxon to make their wants known to their servants. 
But above all was the fusion of the languages most for- 
warded by the marriages between the^Norman conquerors 
and Saxon women. The Norman barons and the English 
commonalty thus drawn close together, the alien speech 
of the conquerors became identified with the national 
language, which firmly maintained its position — lost 
nothing of its own homely power of expression, while it 
gained in elegance of style. Like the Saxon type of 
nationality, the language did not lose its identity ; and as 
it was a difficult matter to distinguish in the schools a 
Norman child from one of pure Saxon descent, one 
hundred years after the Conquest, so the Saxon tongue 
was as distinct as ever it had been from the French. 

This fusion of the two languages thus became the 
basis of our modern English language, the Saxon, 
of the two, being by far the most predominant. 

The secret of this predominance lies perhaps in the 
fact that it was the native tongue of the women who 
were married to the Norman strangers. Children learn 
their first words at their mother's knee, and thus in the 
intermarriages which took place, the children were well 
grounded in Saxon from their infancy, and their mothers 
took a natural pleasure in teaching them the language 
which they themselves spoke. It should be remembered 
that there was to a certain extent an affinity between 
the two languages. The Normans or Northmen them- 
selves had come from Scandinavia, and had not till the 
days of Alfred obtained any legal settlement in France, 
although in two centuries they had forgotten whence 
they came. So that at the same time that the Danes were 
leaving their mark upon the English language, the 
Northmen were blending their hard- sounding gutturals 
with the softer and more musical language of the 
French. 

No wonder, therefore, that when the two finally came 



10 



Handbook of 



together at tlie Conquest there should be many words in 
common. It should also be borne in mind that, though 
William filled nearly all the Sees and court offices with 
Normans, it was not long before Englishmen made them- 
selves felt, and compelled the proud Norman barons to 
recognize them as equals. Then, in the course of a few 
hundred years, war took place between England and 
France, in which the former generally came out vic- 
torious, and "the tongue of a humbled beaten enemy 
was likely to be less attractive to the mass of Englishmen 
than ever." So force of habit prevailed on the one hand, 
while dislike increased on the other, till Edward III. 
banished the hateful Norman French, then used nowhere 
but in the courts of law, and directed the English lan- 
guage to be used thenceforward in judicial pleadings, 
because French had become so much unknown. Finally, 
" it must not be lost sight of, that a sort of tacit com- 
promise passed between the English and French-speaking 
portions of the population : the former were to retain 
the entire grammar — so much, at least, as was left of it 
■ — of the native speech ; all the conjunctions, prepositions, 
and pronouns, — the osseous structure, so to speak, of the 
language, — were to be English ; while, in return, the 
Normans were to be at liberty to import French nouns, 
adjectives, and verbs at discretion, without troubling 
themselves to hunt for the corresponding terms in the 
old literary Anglo-Saxon." 

The English language, thus recast and beautified, 
assumed a settled form, and though, while the fusion 
and settlement was taking place, no literature is found, 
yet it was not long to remain thus barren. It became 
simultaneously the " chosen instrument of thought and 
expression" of Chaucer, the "morning star of English 
song ; " Mandeville, " the father of English prose liter- 
ature ; " and WicklifFe, "the morning star of the 
He formation." From that time " no Englishman could 
feel ashamed of his native tongue or doubt its boundless 
capabilities." Some changes have, of course, taken place 
since then. Through the next century an absorption 



English Literature. 



11 



of French words took place, and when that ceased the 
manufacture of words directly from the Latin took its 
place, consequent upon the revival of classical literature. 
We have, however, reached the period when English 
literature individualized itself in a marked manner, and 
implanted itself too firmly to be again uprooted by 
adverse circumstances. 



12 



Handbook of 



FIRST PERIOD. 

FfvOM Mandeville to the Middle of the Sixteenth 
Century. 



In the study of English literature it will be found 
that it is always on the side of truth and right. It has 
been well said that the power of the English character, 
and therefore of the literature that expresses it, lies in 
the energetic sense of truth, and the firm* habit of 
looking to the end. Ever since Christianity was intro- 
duced, religious life has to a large extent been the centre 
of our sterling literature. 

In the monasteries the earliest literature and learning 
was nurtured, and in the number of the early chronicles 
we have material evidence that there was mind at work 
under all the stir and tumult of the Anglo-Saxon and 
Anglo-Norman times. 

The whole of the Anglo-Saxon literature had for its 
object the making the best of both worlds, to be right 
and to do right. It was not imaginative, but simple and 
free, looking straight to God. Its philosophy was but 
the collecting all the old legends and stories into an 
Encyclopaedia, of which Bede is an example. 

To spread truth, to make men better for what they 
wrote, to increase virtue and morality, to put down vice, 
to shame immorality, has ever been the aim of English 
writers. 

The burst of literature headed by Chaucer, after so 
many years' silence, was to a large extent due to the 



English Literature. 



13 



stirring events of the time, the commencement of re- 
ligious and political persecution as men began to think 
for themselves, and the gradual awakening of the people 
to a sense of their power and influence. 

It was then that the early writers stepped out of the 
obscurity and said their say ; and if, after the first burst, 
there came a relapse of the darkness, it was because 
right for a time became merged in the power of might, 
and men dared not speak as they thought. The same 
period that saw the people freed of the last oppression, 
that gave them freedom of thought and action, saw the 
literature revive, ever after to be a power for good. 

English literature may be divided into five periods — 

1st. That extending from Mandeville to the middle 
of the sixteenth century. 

2nd. That of the "Revival of Letters," which fol- 
lowed the introduction of the art of printing, 
and which may also be called the period of 
Italian influence. 

3rd. That of the Puritans. 

4th. That of the French influence which commenced 
with Dryden. 

5th. That of the English popular influence inaugu- 
rated by Defoe. 

Bearing in mind, therefore, that, under all the differ- 
ings of the various periods, there was but one mind, 
and an honest Saxon love of truth and right, we 
proceed at once, without further introduction, to the 
writers of essentially English prose belonging to the 
first period. 



SIB JOHN DE MANDEVILLE. 
1302-1372. 

Sir John de Mandeville was born at St. Albans, Herts. 
Though educated for the medical profession, he does 



14 



Handbook of 



not seem to have followed it. At the age of twenty- 
two he set off to travel in distant lands. For thirty- 
fo'nr years he roved about the Old "World, penetrating 
as far as Pekin, then an unheard-of adventure. He 
returned to England about the year 1358, and wrote 
an account of his travels. Having done so, he set off 
again on another roving expedition. Overtaken with 
illness, he died, and was buried at Liege. 

NARKATIVE OF HIS TRAVELS, 
In Latin, French, and English. 

It was while laid up with the gout that he translated 
his work from Latin into English, and so earned for 
himself the title of the Father of English Literature. 
The book was evidently intended to serve as a sort of 
handbook of the Holy Land, the journey to which was 
then a very popular pilgrimage. Though Mandeville 
has the credit of being most mendacious, a loyal desire 
to establish truth was his. He was too credulous a 
believer in all the stories that were told him, and so 
loaded his pages with the most extravagant passages. 
Where, however, he speaks of what came under his 
own observation, he may be relied on most thoroughly. 



JOHN DE WXCKLIFFE. 

1324-1384. 

John de Y/ickliffe, a celebrated English religious 
reformer, born in Yorkshire, in the parish of Wickliffe, 
from whence he took his name. He was educated at 
Oxford, first at Queen's, and afterwards at Merton 
College, of which he was elected a fellow. In 1361 he 
was presented to the College living of Fylingham, and 
in the same year was made Master of Balliol. In 1365 
he was made Warden of Canterbury College, by Arch- 
bishop Islip. This office was afterwards taken from 
him by Islip's successor, Langham, who seized the 
revenues of the foundation with the approval of Pope 



English Literature. 



15 



TJrban V., to whom Wickliffe appealed in vain. In 1372 
he took the degree of D.D., and commenced to lecture 
on divinity and against the papal abuses. Against the 
Mendicant Friars, who then overran England, he was 
especially bitter, as indeed were nearly all the educated 
men of the age. Obtaining the patronage of the then 
powerful John of Gaunt, he was sent to Bruges, to meet 
and refute the claims of the papal nuncio. The next 
year he was made a prebend of Worcester, and in 1374 
Edward III., whose rights he had maintained against 
Rome, presented him to the rich benefice of Lutter- 
worth, in Leicestershire. In 1377, Gregory XI. com- 
manded the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop 
of London to seize and examine him as a heretic. They 
obeyed, but the influence of John of Gaunt was so great 
that they released him on condition that he should cease 
to propagate his opinions. In 1382 the Council of 
London condemned his works as heretical, and compelled 
him to resign his offices and quit Oxford. He retired to 
Lutterworth, where he passed the rest of his life, suffer- 
ing from palsy for some time previous to his death. 

TRIALOGUS. 
WICKLIFFE'S WICKET. 
TRANSLATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. 
MANY TRACTS, in Latin and English. 

u Trialogus" is in Latin, and embodies his Opinions in 
a series of conversations between Truth, Falsehood, and 
Wisdom; and " Wickliffe' s "Wicket " is a Learned and 
Godly Treatise of the Sacrament. Wickliffe's great 
merit consists in having given to England the first 
English version of the Bible. Completed in 1383, it is 
acknowledged to have done much towards developing 
the language. His writings are noble, straightforward, 
and hearty in their tone ; sometimes rugged, but always 
thoroughly leavened with an earnest love of truth. 
They are also a representation of the great intellectual 
stir which characterized the age in which they were 
written, and of which Wickliffe was more the centre 
than the cause. 



16 



Handbook of 



GEOFFREY CHAUCER 
1328-1400. 

As Chaucer's genius was so essentially poetical, we 
will not dwell on his life here, bnt in its proper place, 
in the history of English poetical literature. Still he 
did write some prose, — 

A FEW SCIENTIFIC TREATISES; 
TWO OF THE CANTERBURY TALES; 
TRANSLATION OF BOETHIUS ;— 

all of which are thoroughly English in their tone ; the 
same manly earnestness predominating as in his poetry. 
The two "Canterbury Tales" in prose are those of 
Melibceus and the monks — both of them probably 
translations — the latter less a tale than a treatise on 
Eepentance. 



JOHN DE THE VISA, 

Vicar of Berkeley, in Gloucestershire, translated into 
English prose the Latin work of a monk of Chester, 
called " Poly chronic on." Some other translations were 
also made by him. 



PECOCK. 

Bishop Pecock wrote against the "Wickliffites. The 
principal of his works extant are, " The Repressor," a 
defence of the clergy, and the "Book of Faith." The 
larger number of his books, despite their being against 
the Lollards, were burned, as containing too liberal 
opinions ; and he was compelled to make a public ab- 
juration of the opinions expressed in them. 



SIR JOHN FORTESCUE, 

Supposed to have been born in Devonshire, was Chief 
Justice of the King's Bench in 1442. Wrote, whilst in 



English Literature. 



17 



exile in Holland with Queen Margaret, one of the finest 
of our early English law books, " De Laudibus Legum 
Anglise." It is in the form of a dialogue between him- 
self and his young pupil Prince Edward, and was in- 
tended for his guidance when he obtained the crown. 
Perhaps the most interesting is his work entitled "Of 
the Difference between an Absolute and a Limited 
Monarchy," which is simply a " Treatise on the best 
means of raising a revenue for the King, and cementing 
his power," and draws a contrast between the English 
peasantry under the constitutional crown of England, 
and the French peasantry under the absolute monarchy 
of France. It is full of acute remarks and curious in- 
formation. This work is in excellent English, and, if 
freed from the barbarous orthography in which it is 
disguised, could be read with ease and pleasure at the 
present day. 



WILLIAM CAXTON. 
1412-1492. 

Caxton, supposed to have been" born in Kent, was 
at an early age apprenticed to a silk mercer, one Master 
Robert Large. After his master's death he lived in 
Holland and Flanders for fully thirty years, as the agent 
of the London silk dealers. While there he became 
acquainted with the newly- discovered art of printing. 
At Cologne, in 1471, at the age of 59, after having 
translated a French work, entitled " Hecueil des His- 
toires de Troye," he printed it, and this production of 
his press became the first English printed book. In 
1474 he carried his types and press to England, and 
established himself in the unused almonry of West- 
minster. For upwards of seventeen years he continued 
translating and printing the sixty-five works which are 
ascribed to him. 

Of these the principal are, — 

THE GAME AND PLAYE OF THE CHESSE; 
GOLDEN LEGEND. 

0 



18 



Handbook of 



The first was translated from the French, is divided 
into four treatises, and is illustrated with woodcuts. It 
contains a fable about the origin of chess, an account 
of the office of the various pieces, with a prayer for the 
prosperity of Edward and England. The " Golden 
Legend " is a large, double- columned work, of nearly 
five hundred pages, profusely illustrated with woodcuts. 



WYNKYN DE WOKDE, 

AND 

RICHARD PYNSON, 

Assistants of Caxton. At his death they set up 
printing on their own account. Four hundred and 
eight works are ascribed to Wynkyn's press, and two 
hundred and twelve are said to have been printed by 
Pynson. 



ROBERT FABIAN. 
Died 1512. 

A London alderman, and author of " The Con- 
cordance of Stories, a Chronicle of English History, " 
in which fact and fiction are " industriously heaped 
together with honest well-meaning dulness." 



LORD BERNERS, 

Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Governor of Calais 
under Henry VIII. In 1525 he published in London a 
translation of "Froissart's Chronicles," which relate 
the events that occurred in France, England, and other 
parts of Europe, between 1326 and 1400. The trans- 
lation is very accurate, and executed with " wonderful 
felicity." 



English Literature. 



19 



JOHN BELLENDEN, 

Archdeacon of Moray, and a Lord of Session of Scot- 
land, court poet to James V. 

TEANSLATION OF BOCCE'S HISTORY OF SCOTLAND, 
TRANSLATION OF FIRST FIVE BOOKS OF LIVY. 
SKETCH OF SCOTTISH TOPOGRAPHY. 

The translation of the "History of Scotland, " which, 
like Geoffrey of Monmouth's " Chronicles, " is over- 
loaded with fabulous accounts, is the earliest existing 
specimen of Scottish prose literature, although not the 
first original work, which was " The Complaynt of 
Scotland," published in 1548, at St. Andrew's. 



SIR THOMAS ELYOT, 

An eminent medical man in the reign of Henry VIII., 
and friend of Sir Thomas More. He wrote the " Castle 
of Health," containing much good advice about food, 
&c, and a work called " The Governor," published 
in 1531, in which he recommends that children should 
be taught Latin from their infancy. 



SIR THOMAS MORE. 
1480-1535. 

Sir Thomas More, son of Sir John More, a Justice of 
the Queen's Bench, was born in Milk Street, London, 
and educated at St. Anthony's School. At the age of 
fifteen he was received into the household of John Mor- 
ton, Archbishop of Canterbury, who sent him to Oxford, 
where he acquired Greek under Groeyn, and won the 
friendship of Erasmus. He studied law, and, having 
been called to the bar from Lincoln's Inn, he became 
a judge in the Sheriff's Court, practising in the other 
courts with success. Being appointed lecturer at Fur- 
nival's Inn, he soon became popular as a lawyer. Under 



20 



Handbook of 



Henry VII. he was appointed under-sheriff of London, 
became a member, and finally Speaker of the House of 
Commons. 

More became for a time the favonrite of Henry 
VIII., who made him Treasurer of the Exchequer, 
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and in 1530 
Lord High Chancellor, in which office he succeeded 
Wolsey, and obtained great credit for integrity and 
expedition. Losing favour with Henry VIII. by oppo- 
sing his marriage with Anne Boleyn, he resigned his 
seals of office in 1532, and retired to his pleasant house 
at Chelsea. In 1534, the king not having forgiven his 
affront, he was thrown into the Tower, tried at West- 
minster for treason, and finally beheaded. 

UTOPIA (Latin). 

LIFE OF EDWARD V., OR RICHARD III. 

The " Utopia" is in two books, and its aim is to 
satirize the abuses of the age and suggest much-needed 
reforms. There is no doubt that it often hit very hard 
both men and institutions ; but the work was so extra- 
vagant in its conception, that More escaped the penalty 
that would otherwise have rewarded his rashness. The 
story is based on Plato's Republic. Utopia is an island 
discovered by a seaman, Ralph Hythloday, crescent- 
shaped, and 200 miles long. Its 54 towns are alike, 
and contain no taverns or lawyers. The fashions never 
change. The inhabitants work six and sleep eight 
hours a day. Gold, silver, and precious stones are un- 
cared for. More is better known by this than by his 
English work, the " Life of Edward V.," which has been 
allowed to be the first specimen of classical English 
prose, "pure and perspicuous, well chosen, without vul- 
garisms or pedantry." More wrote some other works, 
chiefly theological tracts and Latin epigrams. He was 
also a great orator, but none of his speeches have been 
preserved. 



English Literature. 



21 



WILLIAM TYNDALE. 

1477-1536. 

Nothing is known of Tyndale's early years, except 
what is stated in Foxe's " Book of Martyrs," that he 
was born on the borders of Wales, and brought np from 
childhood at Oxford. Later we find him a tutor in 
the house of Sir J ohn Welsh ; then preaching at Bristol ; 
then finding a home in the house of Alderman Hum- 
phrey Monmouth, who afterwards gave him £10 a year 
to help him in his grand design of translating the Bible. 
After travelling through Germany, he finally settled at 
Antwerp, where the first edition of the New Testament 
was produced, and the copies sent to England. The 
translator suffered a fierce persecution, to which he 
finally became a victim, being strangled and burnt at 
the castle of Vilvoord, near Brussels. 

THE ENGLISH BIBLE 

was Tyndale's life-work. His English is considered 
by all authorities to be remarkably pure and forcible. 
The language he employs is always classical ; and his 
great knowledge of Hebrew and Greek ensured fidelity 
of translation. 



EDWARD HALL. 
Died 1547. 

A lawyer, and author of a valuable historical work 
called " The History of the Houses of York and Lan- 
caster." 



JOHN LELAND. 
Died 1552. 

Born in London and sent at an early age to St. 
Paul's School, he passed from there on to Oxford, 



22 



Handbook of 



Cambridge, and Paris, and finally became chaplain to 
Henry VIII. A great lingnist, lie became insane during 
the last two years of his life. 

AN ITINERARY. 

This work, which has gained for him the title of the 
father of English archaeological literature, contains the 
results of many antiquarian tours through England, and 
is a most valuable work of reference. 



HUGH LATIMER. 
1472-1555. 

Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, was famous as 
a leader of the Reformation. He was born in a farm- 
house in Leicestershire, and educated at Cambridge, 
where he for some time took a prominent part in the 
papal worship. Thomas Bilney, a pious Protestant 
clergyman, had, however, much influence over him, and 
he soon became as zealous a reformer as he had been a 
papist. Through the influence of Thomas Cromwell 
and Anna Boleyn, he was made Bishop of Worcester ; 
but, in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII., he 
resigned his bishopric, and was for six years imprisoned 
in the Tower. Liberated on the accession of Edward 
VI., the bishopric would have been restored to him; but 
he declined it. He lived for some time with Cranmer 
at Lambeth Palace, and devoted himself to the work 
of preaching ; when, Mary coming to the throne, the 
zealous reformer was again committed, sent to the 
Tower, and finally burnt at Smithfield, for heresy. 

SERMONS. 

Though Latimer's sermons are the only works of 
which he was the author, yet they may be placed 
among the first specimens of English prose. They are 
homely and unaffected in style, plain and earnest in 
purpose, learned only in the Bible, and afford most 



English Literature. 



23 



interesting and perhaps the best illustrations of the 
manners and behaviour of his time, and of the inner 
life and thoughts of the common people, to whom they 
were chiefly addressed. They are full of references to 
local events, and to his own experience and life. 



THOMAS CRANMER, 
1489-1556, 

Was born at Aslaston, in Nottinghamshire, and edu- 
cated at Cambridge, where he became fellow of Jesus 
College. He happened to suggest to Fox, the Royal 
Almoner (whom he met accidentally), that the question 
of the king's divorce should be referred to the 
Universities. This suggestion was repeated to Henry 
VIII., who answered, " The man has got the right sow 
by the ear;" and from that day Cranmer was a made 
man. In 1533 he was made Archbishop of Canterbury. 
After Henry's death he became leader of the Reforma- 
tion in England, and may be said to have founded the 
English Church. , In the reign of Mary, in the year 
1556, after being induced to sign a recantation, which 
he immediately and utterly repealed, he was burned at 
Oxford. It has been well said that Cranmer's great 
fault was a want of decision and firmness. 

THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 
TWELVE HOMILIES OR SERMONS. 
CRANMER'S BIBLE, OR THE GREAT BIBLE, 

On these three great works, of which he was the 
chief editor, rests Cranmer's literary reputation. The 
first contains some of the finest specimens of pure 
English prose to be found in our literature. Of the 
" Twelve Homilies," four are from Cranmer's pen. His 
Bible was called the Great Bible probably on account 
of ifcs size. It is founded on Tyiidale's version. 



24 



Handbook of 



GEORGE CAVENDISH. 
Died 1557. 

Gentleman Usher to Wolsey, and member of the 
Royal Household: wrote a very truthful " Life of 
Cardinal Wolsey," which was an important contribu- 
tion to historical literature. 



SIR JOHN CHEKE, 
1514-1557, 

Wrote an original work entitled " The Hurt of Sedi- 
tion," also some MSS. translations from the Greek, 
the study of which language he successfully fostered at 
Cambridge, when there was a danger of its being 
refused admission to the University. 



JOHN BALE. 
1495-1563. 

Born in Suffolk ; Bishop of Ossory, in Ireland ; died 
at Canterbury. 

LIVES OF EMINENT WRITERS (Latin). 
INTERLUDES AND SCRIPTURAL DRAMAS. 
CHRONICLE OF LORD COBHAM'S TRIAL AND DEATH. 

Bale is often violent and generally coarse in his 
manner. He took considerable part in expounding and 
defending the doctrines of the Reformed Church. 



ROGER ASCHAM. 
1515-1568. 

Roger Ascham was born at Kirby Wick, in Yorkshire. 
He was the youngest of three sons of a yeoman, who 
acted as house steward to a nobleman. His studious 



English Literature. 



25 



habits gained him the notice of Sir Anthony Wingfield, 
- who adopted him and sent him to St. John's College, 
Cambridge. He graduated in 1534, and a month or 
two afterwards was made fellow of his college. 

He was engaged in educating two sons of Brandon, 
Earl of Suffolk, also Prince Edward and the Princess 
Elizabeth, who never forgot her old Greek tutor. In 
1544 he succeeded the able Sir John Cheke as orator at 
Cambridge, and Edward VI. made him his Latin secre- 
tary. Throughout the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth 
he retained this office, receiving a salary of £20 a year. 

TOXOPHILUS. 

THE SCHOOLMASTER. 

These two works may be considered to be the first 
specimens of easy conversational English prose, polished 
and classical, perfectly intelligible now. In the first 
volume of " Toxophilus " he sets forth the value of 
manly exercises in a dialogue between Toxophilus and 
Philologis, and shows, much as a modern advocate of 
volunteering might, that the practice of archery need 
not interfere with business or study. In the second 
volume he gives the necessary directions to shoot well. 
In the " Schoolmaster," his principal work, he descants 
on education in a learned but pleasant way. It contains 
sound maxims, and its opinions are far beyond those of 
his time — perhaps even of our own. The style is 
graceful and vigorous, and gives evidence of the Italian 
or Latin influence that afterwards affected English lite- 
rature generally. 



MILES COVEKDALE, 

1487-1568. 

Born in Yorkshire, and some time Bishop of Exeter, 
he spent a large portion of his eventful life in the trans- 
lating and printing of the English Bible. In 1535 he 
published the whole Bible of Tyndale, which had been 
completed at Antwerp and secretly conveyed to Eng- 



26 



Handbook of 



land. He was afterwards much engaged in the pre- 
paration of Cranmer's Bible, so called because the pre- 
face was written by Cranmer. Being exiled in the reign 
of Mary, he fled to Geneva, where his extensive know- 
ledge made him of great service to the English divines 
who were translating the Geneva Bible. 



JOHN KNOX. 
1505-1572. 

John Knox was the son of a peasant. Educated first 
at the Haddington Grammar School, he afterwards en- 
tered the University of Glasgow, where he took priests' 
orders. He was soon involved in the controversy of the 
age, and declared himself a Protestant in 1542. 

After having suffered much persecution in Scotland, 
he was, in 1552, appointed chaplain to the King of Eng- 
land, Edward VI. When Queen Mary ascended the 
throne he returned to Geneva, and connected himself 
with Calvin. Returning to Scotland on the accession of 
Elizabeth, in 1558, he raised there a movement against 
the Catholic clergy, and finally established the Presby- 
terian worship. On the arrival in Scotland of Queen 
Mary Stuart (1561), he preached openly against her, 
and contributed not a little to overturn her authority. 
Died at Edinburgh. 

HISTOEY OF THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 
PAMPHLET "AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF WOMEN." 
EXPOSITIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES. 
TRACTS AND OCCASIONAL WORKS. 

His writings are noted for their stern tone and ab- 
sence of all geniality. The " History of the Scottish 
Reformation" is the most interesting to modern readers. 



English Literature. 



27 



JOHN FOXE. 
1517-1587. 

Born in Boston, Lincolnshire, he received his educa* 
tion at Oxford, from whence he was expelled for heresy 
in 1545. After being reduced to a state of great poverty 
in London, he became tutor in the family of the Duchess 
of Richmond. Obliged to flee from England in the 
reign of Mary, he became Prebend of Salisbury in that 
of Elizabeth, after declining many other and higher 
honours in the Church of England. He spent eleven 
years over his " Acts and Monuments of the Church ; 
or, Foxe's Book of Martyrs," a work which, though 
it received the sanction of the Bishops when published, 
is justly considered to be inaccurate. 



28 



Handbook of 



SECOND PERIOD. 

Revival of Lettees and Italian Influence. 



The art of printing gave a wonderful impetus to the 
advancement of learning and literature, and that, too, 
at a period of darkness and poverty. It also did more 
to settle the language than perhaps anything else. 
Caxton declares that the difference between the language 
of the learned, and that used by the common people, 
was so great, that he was often at a loss to know what 
words to use, in order to make his translations understood 
by all alike. Spelling was equally in an unsettled state, 
many words being spelt in different ways even in the 
same document. The art of printing settled all this ; 
it gave fixity to the language at the same time that 
it gave permanence to thought, and brought books 
which had hitherto been obtainable by kings, princes, 
universities, and schools only, within the reach of the 
middle classes. 

Literature, during the one hundred and fifty years 
that followed the brilliant opening by Chaucer and 
his contemporaries, Mandeville and Wickliffe, became 
feeble in character and purpose. The revival of learning 
which took place on the Continent, especially in Italy, 
after the fall of Constantinople, affected England in turn. 

" Learning, no longer confined to the precincts of the 
college or the gloom of the cloister, began to wax into 
that 'august sunrise,' whose benign influence was to 



English Literature. 



29 



be shed upon the mind of clerk and layman, prince and 
peasant, alike." 

The peaceful and settled state of religion and the 
country generally, together with the brilliant achieve- 
ments of maritime enterprise, must also be borne in 
mind. The former brought wealth and ease to the 
country, and these "brought leisure in their train ; and 
leisure demanded entertainment, not for the body only, 
but also for the mind. As the reading class increased, 
so did the number of those who strove to minister to 
its desires ; and, although England could not then, nor 
for centuries afterwards, produce scholars in any way 
comparable to those of the Continent, yet the number of 
translations which were made of ancient authors proves 
that there was a general taste for at least a superficial 
learning, and a very wide diffusion of it. Translation 
soon led to imitation, and to the projection of new 
literary works on the purer principles of art disclosed 
in the classical authors." The translations were prin- 
cipally from Italian works, the style of which so affected 
the reviving English literature that its influence has 
given a distinctive mark to the period. The Italian 
literature was studied by all people of education, and 
those English works were best received that were 
modelled from it. 

The progress of maritime discovery, the opening up of 
the new continent of America, and the finding of the 
path to India round the Cape of Good Hope, had a 
wonderful influence on the literature and language. 
The description of these new countries, the accounts of 
the various navigators, the picturesque letters narrating 
the adventures of the voyagers, gave to prose- writing 
a freedom and solidity which contrasted well with 
the strained effect produced by too closely copy- 
ing the Italian style, full of conceits, of word-twist- 
ing, and dependent too much upon "alliteration's artful 
aid." 

Prom the Italian was borrowed one or two new forms 
of writing — the sonnet, the novel, the essay. The 



30 



Handbook of 



latter, due in the first place to the genius of Montaigne, 
found a number of English imitators, " one of whom 
was afterwards to eclipse his original/' 

Francis Bacon published a volume of Essays, the 
title of which volume is in strict accordance with its 
contents and mode of reasoning. The lapse of years 
has completely altered the general meaning of the word 
" essay," which, coming from the verb exigere, means 
" to try," a meaning which was strictly adhered to by 
the earliest of essayists. 

From this period dates the first regular newspaper, 
which did not contain any domestic intelligence, only 
foreign news. The first news-pamphlet which came 
out at regular intervals appears to have been that 
entitled " The News of the Present Week," edited by 
Nathaniel Butler, which was started in 1622, in the 
early days of the Thirty Years' War, and was con- 
tinued, in conformity with its title, as a weekly publi- 
cation. 

It was not till the commencement of the latter half 
of the reign of Elizabeth that literature fairly revived 
from the servility and stiffness which had characterized 
it for so long a time. When, however, the revival did 
take place, the advancement was most rapid — so rapid 
that the period between the years 1580 and 1620 may 
well be called the Augustan age of English literature. 



JOHN LYLY. 
1554. 

Not much is known of Lyly's life. Born in Kent, we 
find him a student at Magdalen College, Oxford, where 
he took his M.A. degree in 1575. He was esteemed as 
a wit, and lived in high repute as one at Elizabeth's 
court. After he left college he seems to have been in 
the service of Lord Burleigh. He was always pro- 



English Literature. 



31 



mised favour and advancement by the queen, which, 
however, never came ; and Lyly lived and died in 
straitened circumstances, if not in poverty. 

EUPHUES, THE ANATOMY OF WIT. 

ALEXANDER AND CAMPASPE, and Six other Classical Plays, 
MOTHER BOMBY : a Play. 

PAP WITH A HATCHET, and other Religious Tracts. 

Though Lyly is the father of the modern English 
drama, he is less known by his plays than by his 
"Euphues." It was intended as a protest against the 
Italian strained and conceited writing, then, and for 
some years after, the style affected by the ladies and 
gentlemen of the court, both in writing and speaking. 
Lyly is falsely credited with having made popular, if 
not with being the originator of this ; whereas it is 
beyond doubt that he assailed it and held it up to 
ridicule. And so well did he do it that the name of 
" Euphuism " is to this day applied to all extravagant 
and conceited writing. 

" Euphues" is in two books. The first, while it seems 
to follow all the follies of the time, does so only the 
better to hit them. It is written in an earnest spirit 
against many of the abuses of the day — probably it was 
too earnest to suit his readers — for the second volume 
conceals its satire under an ironical mask — everything 
is found to be perfect. 

Lyly's plays are in prose, with a few songs here and 
there. They were written for the court, and seven out 
of eight are classical. In " Mother Bomby," the scene 
is laid at Rochester, though the play is modelled — 
almost copied in some places — from " Plautus." 

He is considered to have written some religious 
tracts — "Pap with a Hatchet " being a violent pro- 
test against Martin Mar-prelate. 



32 



Handbook of 



SIP, PHILIP SIDNEY. 
1554-1586. 

Philip Sidney, son of Sir Henry Sidney, then Lord- 
Lieutenant of Ireland, was bom at Penshurst, in Kent, 
in the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth. His mother, 
being sister to the great Earl of Leicester, obtained his 
patronage for her son. Sent first to school at Shrews- 
bury, he passed from thence to Oxford and Cambridge, 
where he attained considerable distinction as a scholar. 
He then spent some time in travelling abroad, and was 
among those English Protestants sheltered in the house 
of the English ambassador on that day of Bartholomew, 
when so fearful a massacre took place in Paris. Sid- 
ney's attractions, both personal and mental, won for 
him the favour of the queen and court, where he shone 
as one of the most brilliant ; for his intellect was great, 
and his character noble. If he had a defect, it was 
that he was possessed of a gravity beyond his years. 
Sent as ambassador to the new Emperor of Germany, 
Rudolph II., in 1577, he was made governor of Flushing 
in 1585 ; he was mortally wounded in battle the follow- 
ing year, when the incident occurred which has for ever 
stamped him as one of the most generous and kindly 
of mankind ; for, when on the field of death, he turned 
away the cooling draught from his own blackened lips 
to slake the thirst of a dying soldier. 

ARCADIA. 

DEFEXSE OF POESIE. 
SOXXETS. 

The "Arcadia," an heroic romance, was written under 
the oaks at Wilton, and dedicated to the Countess of 
Pembroke. It has for its heroes two princes, who, 
being great friends, travel together and meet with all 
kinds of adventures. Its pages glow with rich fancy 
and fine imagery. It was never finished, and was not 
given to the world till its gifted author had been dead 
four years. The " Defense of Poesie " is the first ster- 



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33 



ling piece of criticism in the English language. The 
growing Puritanism of the age looked down somewhat 
on poetry. Sidney, therefore, endeavoured to show the 
value of poetry ; that making it was an honourable occu- 
pation; and that, when of the highest kind, it possessed 
great power as a teacher of men. 

The love sonnets of Sidney are among the best of 
their kind. Stella, to whom they were principally 
addressed, was Lady Penelope Rich. 



RALPH HOLINSHED. 

Of Holinshed's personal history we have very little 
account ; his 

CHRONICLE OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

is written in a quaint and interesting manner. It is one 
of the connecting links between the old chroniclers 
and modern historians, It quotes largely from other 
writers, and is valuable as being a faithful reflex of the 
manners and customs of his time. Shakspeare has 
drawn largely from this work the materials for his plays 
of " Macbeth " and " Richard II. ; " some passages in 
the latter being almost literally transcribed. 



THOMAS WILSON, 

Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and Dean of 
Durham : wrote in 1553 a " System of Rhetoric and 
Logic," in which the use of a simple English style is 
recommended. It is considered to be the first critical 
work in our language. 



ROBERT GREENE. 
1560-1592. 

PANDOSTO ; OR, THE TRIUMPH OF TIME, and otkef Novelettes. 
A GROAT'S WORTH OF WIT. 

Greene is better known as a play writer and poet, 

D 



34 



Handbook of 



than as a prose writer. Of his novelettes the " Pan- 
dosto " is the best known. From it Shakspeare bor- 
rowed the plot of " The Winter's Tale." The " Groat's 
Worth of Wit " is a confession of repentance and auto- 
biography, published after his death, which occurred, 
under miserable circumstances, when he was only 32 
years of age. 



ROBERT SOUTHWELL, 
1560-1595, 

A poet and Jesuit priest : wrote one prose piece en- 
titled "A Consolation on the Death of Lord Sackville." 



EDMUND SPENSER. 
1553-1599. 

Spenser, great as a poet, is a prose writer by virtue 
of his 

VIEW OF IBELAKD, 

written while acting as secretary to Lord Grey de 
Wilton in 1580. It is a dialogue, and shows no admi- 
ration of the Irish people. It also advocates a very 
strict policy with regard to them. 



RICHARD HOOKER, 
1553-1600. 

Born in Exeter, of parents neither noble nor rich, but 
of good character. They contrived to give him a decent 
amount of schooling. As a schoolboy he was remark- 
able for his continual questioning. Intended by his 
parents to be a tailor, they were persuaded to allow him 
to study on ; and his uncle, who was rich, sent him to 
Oxford, where he also obtained considerable help from 
Bishop Jewel. The death of the latter destroyed his 



English Literature. 



35 



hopes of advancement. Still, at nineteen lie was elected 
one of the free scholars at Corpus Christi, and in 1579 
appointed to read the Hebrew Lecture. 

Three months after we find him expelled the Univer- 
sity, with his friend Reynolds, for a reason which is not 
clearly stated, but doubtless a matter of "conscience." 
Both were, however, some months after, restored. He 
was appointed preacher at Paul's Cross, then he became 
Master of the Temple, in which office he continued 
for some years, and held successively the livings of 
Boscomb, in Wilts, and Bishop's Bourne, in Kent. 
Hooker's character was remarkable for its purity ; his 
disposition was gentle, and his piety undoubted. 

ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY. 

This work was written in defence of the constitution 
and discipline of the Church of England, against the 
attacks of the Puritans, and is well accounted " one of 
the masterpieces of English eloquence." It is clear, 
vigorous, and logical, and an advance on the generality 
of English theological composition. It has been "some- 
what censured for the great length of its sentences ; but 
the best critics agree in admiring the beauty and dignity 
of the style, which, woven of honest English words, 
chosen by no vulgar hand, is yet embroidered with some 
of the fairest and loftiest figures of poetry. This charm 
— the ornament of figures — English prose had probably 
never possessed till Hooker wrote." 



THE BIBLE. 
1611. 

The authorized English version of the Scriptures was 
the work of the reign of James. Forty-seven persons, 
in six companies, meeting at Westminster, Oxford, and 
Cambridge, distributed the labour among them ; twenty- 
five being assigned to the Old Testament, fifteen to the 
New, seven to the Apocrypha. The rules imposed for 

D 2 



36 



Handbook of 



their guidance by the king were designed, as far as 
possible, to secure the text against any novel inter- 
pretation; the translation called " The Bishops' Bible " 
being established as the basis, as those still older had 
been in that ; and the work of each person or company 
being subjected to the review of the rest. The transla- 
tion, which was commenced in 1607, was published in 
1611. " The Bishops' Bible " named above, was a 
translation prepared in the early part of Elizabeth's 
reign, under the supervision of Archbishop Parker, and 
published in 1567. " The beautiful simplicity and easy 
idiomatic flow of the authorized version render it a 
people's book, and a model for translators ; while the 
strength and dignity of its style have probably operated 
for good upon English prose writing ever since." 



SIR THOMAS OVERBURY. 
1613. 

This nobleman was poisoned by Carr, the favourite of 
James I., with whom he was intimately associated, and 
by whom he was patronized. The Countess of Exeter 
also had a share in the shameful transaction, which 
was but one of many that disgraced the reign of 
James L 

CHARACTERS. 

This book, well written, with flowing grace and of 
happy expression, is full of ideal pictures of life. 



RICHARD HAKLUYT. 
1553-1616. 

This learned man, born in Herefordshire, was for some 
time the lecturer on Cosmography or Geography in the 
University of Oxford. He published 

THE PRINCIPAL NAVIGATIONS AND DISCOVERIES OF THE 
ENGLISH NATION, BY SEA OR OVERLAND, &c., ANYTIME 
THESE FIFTEEN HUNDRED YEARS. 



English L iterature. 



37 



The work is well written, and especially interesting 
with, regard to the accounts it contains of the travels and 
researches of the Cabots, father and son, Raleigh, and 
others, on the newly discovered continent of America, 
which he visited and helped to colonize. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
1552-1618. 

Sir Walter Raleigh, the fourth son of Walter Raleigh, 
a gentleman of noble family, was born at Hayes, 
in Devonshire, and educated at Oxford. He entered 
the army at an early age, and served in France and 
afterwards in the Netherlands. He also fought in 
Ireland during the Desmond Rebellion. In 1579 he 
joined Sir Humphrey Gilbert in an unsuccessful attempt 
to colonize part of America. Four years afterwards he 
again set sail for Newfoundland, bent upon a voyage of 
colonization and discovery, but was obliged to return. 
In 1584 he, with Gilbert, obtained patents for the colo- 
nization of Virginia on the newly discovered continent 
of America, the fruit of which expedition was the intro- 
duction of tobacco and potatoes into this country. He 
was made M.P. for Devonshire, and was knighted by the 
queen, with whom he was a prime favourite. He made 
two more attempts to colonize North America, but 
without success. In 1587 he sent three ships to Vir- 
ginia, and the following year greatly distinguished him- 
self in the actions with the Spanish Armada. In 1600 
he was sent with Lord Holland on an embassy to 
Flanders, and there made Governor of Jersey. On 
James's accession he lost court favour, and the hatred 
which his successes had caused made open manifestation. 
He was deprived of his preferments one by one, and 
accused of high treason, then tried and condem ned to 
death. There was no legal proof of his guilt, but Attor- 
ney-General Coke overruled the jury. This terrible 
sentence caused the most lively interest to take the 



33 



Handbook of 



place of enmity. Raleigh was regarded as a hero un- 
justly accused, and a general cry arose in his favour ; 
the king was therefore obliged to postpone the execution. 
Conveyed to the Tower the 15th December, 1603, 
Raleigh underwent a long captivity. The presence of 
his beloved wife, who had resolved to share his prison, 
the education of his children, the cultivation of the arts 
and sciences, afforded him not only consolations but en- 
joyments ; and when, at the end of twelve years, he 
recovered his liberty, his great soul had lost none of its 
energy. Quitting prison in 1616 — without, however, 
having been discharged from the sentence — Raleigh 
desired to deserve entire immunity by new services, 
and undertook (March 28, 1617) an expedition to 
Guiana, where his former researches led him to think 
he should find a gold mine. James, however, to please 
the Spanish Court, who were jealous of the proceeding, 
united with it for the purpose of destroying Raleigh. 
Accused of piracy, and persecuted by Spain and the 
king, and seeing that he had no chance of obtaining 
justice in England, Raleigh attempted to escape. Being 
betrayed, he was arrested, and thrown into prison. 
Spain demanded his head, and the king granted the 
demand. His only trouble was to find a legal means. 
He resolved to revive the sentence that had been passed 
fifteen years before. Though efforts were made to save 
his life, the 29th of October, 1618, was fixed for him to 
die. His execution was one of the most affecting 
scenes of English history. 

HISTORY OF THE WOULD. 

NARRATIVE OF HIS CRUISE TO GUIANA. 

MAXIMS OF STATE, ADVICE TO HIS SON, &e. 

Of Raleigh's works his greatest is the " History of the 
World," which was written during his long captivity 
in the Tower. It is esteemed one of the best specimens 
of the prose of the period in which he lived, and sur- 
passes the works of all previous writers on the same 
subject in its purity of style, and the dignity with 



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39 



which, it is treated. It is full of sterling information, 
and illustrates the fables believed in at that time by 
learned and unlearned unlike. In writing it he must 
have had access to books and information, and where 
the history is dependent upon Scripture narrative, the 
Bible is closely followed. 



WILLIAM CAMDEN. 
1551-1023. 

This antiquary and writer of history, was born in 
London, and received his higher education at Oxford. 
Much of his earlier life was spent in connection with 
Westminster School, in which he was afterwards second 
and head master. He afterwards became Clarencieux 
King- at- Arms. 

BRITANNIA. 

QUEEN ELIZABETH'S REIGN. 
GUNPOWDER PLOT. 

All these were written in Latin, but translated into 
English. The first, his great work, and devoted to the 
antiquities of England, is valuable to the antiquarian 
and archaeologist, and is, perhaps, the best picture of 
England, as it then was, that we possess. 



JAMES I. 
1566-1625. 

King James I. of England was the author of certain 
literary works. The only three that are specially re- 
membered, and these rather for the amusement than 
the instruction which they afford, are :— 

DiEMONOLOGIE. 
BASILICON DORON. 
COUNTERBLAST TO TOBACCO. 

The first defends his belief in witches in a learned 



40 



Handbook of 



dialogue. The second was written in Scotland to 
leaven Prince Henry's mind with his own views and 
opinions. And the third is a strenuous but absurd 
voice against the growing use of tobacco. 



FRANCIS, LORD BACON. 
1561-1626. 

Born in London, son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord 
Keeper of the Privy Seal, he very early manifested a 
desire for study and research. He was sent to Cam- 
bridge at the age of sixteen ; and on leaving college he 
accompanied the English ambassador into Prance to the 
court of Henry III. Recalled into his native country 
by the death of his father, he was called to the bar, and 
gave himself up to the study of jurisprudence. Never- 
theless, preferring the career of public business, he made 
great efforts to obtain some important employment, and 
with this view attached himself to the Earl of Essex ; 
he also entered the House of Commons (1592). How- 
ever, he could not get forward under Elizabeth, although, 
in order to conciliate the favour of the Queen, he con- 
sented to justify the condemnation of the unfortunate 
Essex, who had been his patron. He received from 
her the honorary title of Extraordinary Counsellor to 
the Queen. He consoled himself by cultivating the 
sciences, and then began the labours which have im- 
mortalized his name. After the death of Elizabeth, 
James L, who loved learned men, rapidly raised Bacon 
to honours. He was appointed successively Solicitor- 
General (1607), Attorney* General (1613), Member of 
the Privy Council (1616), Keeper of the Great Seal 
(1617), and, lastly, Lord High Chancellor (1618). He 
was besides made Baron Verulam and Yiscount St. 
Albans. 

Impeached by the House of Commons in 1621, for 
receiving bribes, he was sentenced to pay a fine of 
£10,000 and sent to the Tower ; the punishment was, 



English Literature. 



41 



however, remitted by the king (James I.). Stripped 
of all his honours, he retired to Gorhambury, and died 
through catching cold while making some physical 
experiments. 

Lord Bacon's character has been summed up by Pope 
in the line, — 

" The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind," 

with a certaiu amount of truth. 

It was in money matters that he showed such a 
deficiency of perception ; and this, after all, may be in 
keeping with his character as a philosopher. 

STATE OF EUEOPE. 

ESSAYS; OR, COUNSELS, CIVIL AND MORAL. 
HISTORY OF KING HENRY VII. 
THE NEW ATLANTIS. 

ON THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING : A Treatise. 
INSTAURATIO MAGNA. 

It is Bacon's philosophical works that have made 
his name famous. Disgusted when at Cambridge with 
the mode of reasoning and study in practice there, 
which failed to satisfy his inquiring mind, he matured 
during his life a method, of philosophical study, the 
object of which was to establish science upon the sure 
and certain foundation of experimental observation. 
This, the Baconian or Inductive Philosophy, is explained 
in the second part (Novum Organum) of his great 
w ork ' 1 Instauratio Magna. ' ' 

The Essays stand among the first and finest works 
of our English literature. They are specially charac- 
terized by the weightiness of their thoughts, their 
sound critical judgment, and high morality of tone. 

Modelled on those of Montaigne, they are far be- 
yond them in character and scope. They were first 
published in 1597, and again published, with large 
additions, in 1612 ; and again, similarly augmented, 
in 1625, under the title of " Essayes; or, Counsels, Civill 
and Moral." In the dedication to this edition Lord 
Bacon writes, — " I do now publish my i Essayes,' which 



42 



Handbook of 



of all my otlier workes have beene most current ; for 
that, as it seemes, they come home to men's businesse 
and bossomes. I have enlarged them both in number 
and weight, so that they are indeed a new work." The 
u Essays " in this their final shape were immediately 
translated into French, Italian, and Latin. 

The " History of the Reign of Henry YIL," published 
in 1622, is in many ways a masterly work. " With the 
true philosophic temper, he seeks, not content with a 
superficial narrative of events, to trace out and exhibit 
their causes and connections ; and hence he approaches 
to the modern conception of history, as the record of 
the development of peoples, rather than of the actions of 
princes and other showy personages." 

The " Advancement of Learning" was composed in 
English, and first published in 1605. Its general 
object was to take a survey of the whole field of human 
knowledge, showing its actual state in its various de- 
partments, and noting what parts had been cultivated, 
and what were lying waste, without, however, entering 
upon the difficult inquiry as to erroneous methods of 
cultivation ; his purpose in this work being only " to 
note omissions and deficiencies," with a view to their 
being made good by the labours of learned men. 



THOMAS DEKKER. 
Died about 1638. 

A dissipated dramatist, of whom little is known 
beyond that he was a companion of Lyly, and wrote 

THE GULL'S HORN BOOK, 

a satirical guide to the dissipations and follies of 
London life. 



English Literature. 



43 



EGBERT BURTON, 
1576-1640. 

Born at Lindley, in Leicestershire ; educated at Ox- 
ford ; became rector of Segrave, in the same county. 

ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY. 

This most quaint book abounds with learned quota- 
tions, and shows him to have been familiar with works 
that were then read by few. Although he wrote it to 
relieve himself of the deep melancholy fits to which he 
was subject, it contains other and healthier feelings. 



LORD HERBERT OF CHERBURY. 

1581-1648. 

Born at Eyton, in Shropshire, and educated at Oxford. 

LIFE AND REIGN OF HENRY VIIL 
DE VERITATE. 

MEMOIRS OF HIS OWN LIFE, 

The first is considered to be a masterpiece of style. 
"De Veritate" is the chief of his deistic works, for 
which he is noted. 



JOHN SELDEN. 
1584-1654. 

An eminent English statesman, born at Sabington, 
in Sussex ; he was educated at Oxford, and studied law 
in London. In 1624 he became a member of the 
House of Commons, was determined in his opposition 
to the court, and was appointed one of the committee 
which impeached Buckingham in 1626. He was im- 
prisoned in 1628, and was much persecuted by Charles 
I. He was a member of the Long Parliament, in 

I 



44 



Handbook of 



which lie was distinguished for his moderation, being 
opposed to the civil war. Thongh he signed the 
Covenant in 1644, he refused Cromwell's request to 
answer the " Eikon Basilike." He was made keeper of 
the Records in the Tower, which office he held till his 
death. Selden was one of the finest characters of his 
day, obeying no dictation, knowing no party, of a 
noble and generous disposition. 

SEVERAL HISTORIES (in Latin). 

A TREATISE ON TITLES OF HONOUR. 

HISTORY OF TITHES. 

The " Treatise on Titles'' is much prized by genealo- 
gists and lovers of heraldry. The " History of Tithes " 
greatly excited the rage of the clergy, and obtained for 
him a severe rebuke from the king. About twenty 
years after his death his " Table Talk " was published 
by his secretary. 



JOSEPH HALL. 
1574-1656. 

Joseph Hall, born in Leicestershire, was Bishop of 
Norwich. He deserves great praise for his sermons 
and prose writings, the chief of which are 

CONTEMPLATIONS ON HISTORICAL PASSAGES OF THE OLD AND 

NEW TESTAMENTS ; 
OCCASIONAL MEDITATIONS. 



JAMES USSHEE. 
1581-1656. 

Born and educated in Dublin, he showed at an early 
age a remarkable proficiency in study. While Professor 
of Divinity in Dublin, he became noted as a controver- 
sial writer. Made Bishop of Meath, he was promoted 
to the Archbishopric of Armagh in 1624. In 1641 he 
fled from Ireland in consequence of the war, and took 
refuge in Oxford. Being a staunch Royalist, the Parlia- 



English Literature. 



45 



ment seized on his lands, though he was afterwards 
voted £400 a year. He was a most eloquent preacher, 
though his fame chiefly rests on his works, the principal 
of which are 

a Treatise on the power of the prince and obedience 

of the subject; 
a treatise on state and succession of the christian 

churches ; 
annals of the new testament. 

The latter is a valuable chronological work, which 
gained its author great renown. It is a view of general 
history from the Creation to the fall of Jerusalem, and 
on the authority of this work depend the dates found 
in the margin of our English Bibles. 



46 



Handbook of 



THIRD PERIOD. 



PURITAN INFLUENCE. 



The literature of the Cavaliers and Puritans was as 
dissimilar as their politics. The former were light, 
graceful, gay, and polished in their life and manner ; the 
latter rugged, earnest, and solid. With but a few ex- 
ceptions, as Lord Clarendon, Thomas Fuller, and Jeremy 
Taylor, the Royalist writers produced but little of a 
sterling or serious character ; a large portion of their 
works bear the painful stain of immorality, dissipation, 
and vice. The Puritans, however, grave in dress and 
manner, with simple tastes, and a thorough know- 
ledge of the Bible, give evidence of all this in then 1 
writings. A profound religious thoughtfulness was the 
root in the character of the English Puritans out of 
which grew their great works of the pen. The hurry 
and bloodshed of the civil war were not calculated to 
foster abstract literature or learning. Controversial 
writings are prolific enough, and there are other works 
which appeal to the strong passion of the people for 
liberty of conscience and freedom of thought and 
speech. 

The Puritan writings are noted for the strong Anglo- 
Saxon characteristics which they display. It was essen- 
tially a prose addressed to the people for their edifica- 
tion. In the higher branches of literature the Puritan 
writers showed that they had learning, and a few 



English Literature. 



47 



showed their sliare in rather a pedantic manner. Milton 
also used many Latin and Latinized words and forms of 
expression. But his works and those of others were 
written for the few. The mass of the works, such as 
Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," and Baxter's " Saint's 
Best," were addressed to the many. They were, there- 
fore, purposely shorn of all that tended to lessen the 
chance of their being not understood. They are also 
full of imagery and pictures drawn from every- day 
life, which rendered them the more acceptable to the 
people. 

The earnest character of the Puritan writings power- 
fully affected our English prose, and has left a stamp 
upon it that will never be effaced. The fervour and 
enthusiasm engendered by strong religious excitement 
is felt throughout. It has been well and truthfully 
said that " a massive strength and solemn elevation of 
tone, form the grand characteristics of a school in 
which the naked majesty of the Divine perhaps too 
much overshadows the tenderness and gentleness of 
the human element. The stern work of those sad 
times was little fitted to nourish in the breasts of good 
men those feelings from which bright thoughts and 
happy sunny affections spring ; but the worst enemy of 
these remarkable men cannot deny, that the mainspring 
of the Puritan mind, as displayed in written works and 
recorded actions, was a simple fear of God, and an over- 
mastering desire to fulfil every duty, in the face of any 
conseo L uences, no matter how perilous or painful." 

The period immediately after the civil war, and the 
final triumph of the Roundheads, was not the best 
period of Puritan literature by any means. It was 
not till after the Restoration, and the Cavaliers were 
again in the ascendant, that it shone out with such 
lustre. Under trials of no ordinary character, in the 
face of danger, ejected from their homes and livings for 
conscience sake, compelled to live in the direst poverty, 
forbidden to come near a habitation, reduced to live 
in caves and hiding-places — under all this did the 



48 



Handbook of 



Puritan divines produce some of their best, soundest, 
and ever-living works. John Bunyan and Richard 
Baxter are bright examples, and their works, with 
others, are undying specimens of the living power of 
truth and right. 

Such a strife as took place between the people and 
the king could not fail but to be productive of works 
which discussed the subject of civil government and 
episcopal right. The minds of the more philosophical 
writers were directed to the subject of a fixed basis, by 
which such a contest as that which was raging might 
be avoided in the future. It seemed that there must be 
some fixed truths to which all might assent. They 
were not then arrived at, nor since, nor is it likely that 
there ever will come a time when it will be found pos- 
sible to lay down a theory of government to which all 
classes, with their many differences of opinion, may 
subscribe. It is well to remember, however, that, in the 
period now under our notice, the struggle between the 
people and the king was less against his form of 
government than against his arbitrary abuse of power. 
There was no settled hatred to monarchy per se, except 
what grew out of the bitter feelings engendered by the 
contest. The reign of Elizabeth, just concluded, was 
one of the happiest of periods ; and, therefore, if in the 
writings of the Puritans is discovered a bitter animosity 
to monarchy, it was because both extremes had met 
together. The king had overstretched his power, and 
fallen into Scylla, on the one hand, while the people had 
rushed into Charybdis on the other. 

Historians had also their work to do. History should 
be an impartial narrative of facts and occurrences. It 
is, however, perhaps impossible that any writer could, 
if he has strong peculiarities and feelings, so completely 
keep them down as to prevent them tingeing, if not 
pervading, the character of his writings. It is, there- 
fore, necessary that the student of history, before he 
makes any particular work his study, should consider 
who and what was his author, and what likelihood there 



English Literature. 



49 



may be of getting a fair estimate of events from him. 
All the histories published during this or any other 
period should have due allowance made for the party 
feelings and prejudices of the authors. 

Just as the political strife produced works in which 
monarchical and other forms of government were dis- 
cussed, so the religious warfare was productive of the 
literature of the pulpit. This was especially the case 
in the later days of the Puritans, when the Act of Uni- 
formity compelled some two thousand divines to resign 
their livings, because they could not conscientiously 
subscribe to it. In such times, and in the absence of 
many books, the pulpit was, as may be supposed, a 
great disseminator of news, as well as a formidable 
instrument in the promulgation of any particular views. 
The many collections of sermons which characterize this 
period are naturally so many views of the religio- 
political discussions of the time. All sides and all 
opinions are equally represented. Though occupied 
with much that could only have been interesting at the 
time of their delivery, they are yet full of learning and 
piety. Biblical literature received a large accession in 
the number of commentaries which appeared on the whole 
or portions of the Scriptures, especially of the Epistles. 
Nearly every Puritan divine has left behind him, if not 
a commentary, a quantity of copious marginal notes. 
Like the sermons, they display an intimate acquaintance 
with Biblical learning, and great originality of thought. 

There was but little fiction written during this period. 
Present events were too stirring during the civil war 
for men to take an interest in fictitious scenes and 
characters, and every- day life was too exciting to need a 
stimulus. All those who could aid their brothers in the 
strife, by their pen, chose rather to do so, than to use it 
in the service of imagination. During the Common- 
wealth there was little licence allowed, and the line was 
drawn strait enough; more than ever was it necessary 
to stand as far away as possible from their antagonists, 
with their riotings and godlessness. They, however, 



50 



Handbook of 



" went too far undoubtedly, but they were, in point of 
morality and religion, at least, on the right side of the 
dividing line." If they preached godliness and enforced 
it, they also practised it most devoutly, and the influence 
was for good. The leaven, bitter as it was to many, 
spread through the lump, and, though a brief period 
of mad and reckless jollity and wicked intolerance set 
in after the Restoration, the powerful impetus given 
to the advancement of solid and religious learning and 
writing was felt long after, even down to the present 
day, 



THOMAS FULLER, 
1608-1661. 

Born at Aldwincle, in Northamptonshire. He received 
from his father, a clergyman, his first tuition, passing, 
at the age of thirteen, to Queen's College, Cambridge. 
Ten years afterwards we find him Fellow of Sidney 
Sussex. He was appointed Lecturer at the Savoy 
Chapel, where his eloquent preaching drew large and 
distinguished audiences. When the civil war broke out, 
Fuller, though he seems to have acted with moderation, 
was deprived of his pulpit by the Parliament, and 
attached himself to the troops under Lord Hopton. 
With them he wandered about, enduring all the vicis- 
situdes of camp life, until the downfall of the royal 
cause, when he took up his abode in Exeter, where he 
lived for some years, engaged in preaching and writing. 
Coming again to London, and enduring some disappoint- 
ments, he at last obtained a permanent pulpit at St. 
Bride's, Fleet Street, He afterwards, having passed 
the examination of the " Friars," settled down at 
Waltham Abbey, in Essex, to the rectory of which he 
had been presented by Lord Carlisle. At the Restoration 
he received again his lectureship at the Savoy, was 



English Literature. 



51 



chosen chaplain to the king, and made a D.D. by his 
University. He was permitted to enjoy these honours 
but a short time. Scarcely a year afterwards he died of 
a violent fever, respected, beloved, and honoured by all. 
Two hundred clergymen followed his remains to the 
grave. 

GOOD THOUGHTS IN BAD TIMES. 
GOOD THOUGHTS IN WORSE TIMES. 
CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 
WORTHIES OF ENGLAND. 
HISTORY OF THE HOLY WAR. 
A PISGAH VIEW OF PALESTINE. 
THE HOLY AND PROFANE STATES. 
MANY ESSAYS, TRACTS, AND SERMONS. 

Fuller is chiefly remembered for his two works, "The 
Church History of Britain," and " The Worthies of 
England," the latter being the greatest work. The 
materials for this were largely collected during his 
wanderings with the royal army: it is a "quaint de- 
lightful collection of literary odds and ends," and deals 
not alone with the personal history of eminent English- 
men, but with a host of other things connected with 
the places of their birth and life. About eighteen hundred 
individuals are thus sketched. His pages sparkle with 
gems of wit and wisdom. The Church History was 
condemned in his own day, for its fun and quibble, but 
its fun is not foul : it has been well called the sweetest- 
blooded wit that was ever infused into man or book. 



JOHN GAUDEN. 
1605-1662. 

Born at Mayfield, Essex, and educated at St. John's, 
Cambridge. He was made Bishop of Exeter, under 
Charles II., and afterwards Bishop of Worcester. 

EIKON BASILIKE. 

This celebrated book, of which fifty editions were 
sold in one year, was published a few days after the 

e 2 



52 



Handbook of 



death of Charles I., and is a " Portraiture of his most 
Sacred Majesty in his solitude and sufferings." It 
seems to be satisfactorily settled that Grauden did write 
this book, though it was said at the time to have been 
penned by the king himself. Milton wrote his " Eikono- 
klastes " in answer to it. 



JOHN HOWELL, 
1596-1666, 

Was born in Carmarthenshire, and spent much of his 
early manhood in travelling .on the Continent, as agent 
for a glass works ; he was afterwards a tutor, and then 
a government official in 1640. He was made clerk to 
the council, then imprisoned by the Parliament, and 
ended his chequered life by becoming historiographer. 
His 

FAMILIAR SKETCHES 

are the result of his varied travel and foreign obser- 
vations. He wrote altogether about forty works. His 
language is picturesque and lovely. 



EDWARD CALAMY. 
1600-1666. 

Born in London, and educated at Cambridge Univer- 
sity, which he entered when only fifteen years of age. 
He greatly distinguished himself at college, and became 
chaplain to the Bishop of Ely. He was afterwards 
appointed one of the lecturers at Bury St. Edmunds, 
and rector of Rochford, in Essex. 

He took a considerable part in the religio-political 
discussions of his time, opposing the High Church 
party, and finally separating himself from the Church 
of England to attach himself to Presbyterianism. 

In 1641 he was appointed one of the divines to devise 
a plan for reconciling the differences that prevailed in 



English Literature. 



53 



regard to ecclesiastical discipline, which led to the 
Savoy Conference, in which he also took part. Opposed 
to Cromwell and the Independents, he did his best to 
promote the restoration of Charles, from whom he 
received an offer of the Bishopric of Litchfield and 
Coventry, which he declined. On the Act of Unifor- 
mity being passed, he, with others, resigned his pulpit, 
Preaching, however, some time after in his old pulpit, 
he gave offence, and was imprisoned in Newgate for 
a short time. 

SERMONS. 

These are the only works that give him a place 
among the English prose writers. They are highly 
estimated for the great learning and scholarship which 
they display. 



ABRAHAM COWLEY. 
1608-1667. 

The son of a well-to-do tradesman, in Cheapside, 
London, educated first at Westminster, then at Cam- 
bridge, of which college he became a fellow. 

ESSAYS AND CRITICAL NOTES. 

By virtue of these, Cowley, who was essentially a 
poet, takes a place also among prose writers. His prose 
is simple but sterling. 



JEREMY TAYLOR, 
1613-1667. 

Taylor was the son of a surgeon-barber, who lived at 
Cambridge. Having received his elementary education 
at the Grammar School, he entered Caius College as a 
Sizar. After he was ordained he came to London, 
where his powerful preaching attracted the attention of 
Archbishop Laud, who secured him a fellowship in All 
Souls College. His advancement was rapid, and in 



54 



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1637 lie was presented by Bishop Juxon with the living 
of Uppingham, in Rutlandshire. Like Fuller, he was 
compelled to flee to the army for protection, at the time 
of the civil war. His rectory being sequestrated, he 
first shared the fortunes of the army, and then settled 
down at Newton Hall, Carmarthenshire, where he set 
up a school in conjunction with a friend. He returned 
to London in 1657, and in the following year was 
induced to settle at Lisburn, in the north of Ireland. 
A Puritan informer having seen him make the sign of 
the cross in baptism, he was accused before the Irish 
Council of the act. In 1660, at the Restoration, he was 
rewarded with the bishopric of Down and Connor, which 
he held till his death seven years after. He died of a 
violent fever at Lisburn. 

HOLY LIVING AND DYING. 
LIFE OF CHRIST. 
GOLDEN GROVE. 

LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING (PREACHING). 

DOCTOR DUBITANTIUM. 

SERMONS. 

The first is the most popular of Taylor's devotional 
works. The " Liberty of Prophesying" is an eloquent 
and pathetic plea for religious toleration, " on a com- 
prehensive basis, and on deep-seated foundations. As a 
preacher, he had no equal among his predecessors, his 
sermons being distinguished for intense fervour, for 
profusion of illustration and poetical ornament, and for 
the startling and irresistible force of his appeals to the 
feelings and imagination. "When the occasion is such 
as to call forth his fall powers, his eloquence may truly 
be said to bum like a consuming fire." The last work 
is considered to be the standard English work on 
Casuistry. Taylor's style is very ornamental, and 
marked by the defects peculiar to the time, his sentences 
being frequently cumbrous and inartistic, and his fer- 
tility apt to degenerate into prolixity. His works are 
full of similes, quotations, and metaphors. Their 
matter, however, is of sterling quality. 



English Literature. 



55 



EDWARD HYDE, EARL OF CLARENDON. 
1608-1674. 

This statesman and historian was born at Dinton, in 
Wiltshire, and educated at Oxford. After studying law 
at the Middle Temple, he entered Parliament in 
1640. In the civil wars he served the king, who 
made him Chancellor of the Exchequer and Member of 
the Privy Council. After the execution of Charles I. 
he joined his son, and was entrusted by him with 
important negociations. In 1657 he was created High- 
Chancellor of England, an office then existing in name 
only : at his establishment in 1660 the king confirmed 
him in that dignity, and added the title of Earl of 
Clarendon. The influence he enjoyed caused him to 
be hated by the rest of the court, who prevailed on the 
king, who felt reproached by his virtue and integrity, 
to disgrace him. He was accordingly deprived of his 
office, and banished for ever. He retired into France, 
and died at Rouen. 

HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. 

ESSAY ON AN ACTIVE AND CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE. 

The former work, on which rests his literary fame, is 
not distinguished by great excellence of style ; but* as 
the narrative of an eye-witness, and one who took part 
in the mighty contest of those days, it forms a valuable 
contribution to our historical literature. His sketches 
of the prominent men of his time are highly interesting, 
and show great talent. His strong partizanship is 
displayed, however, throughout his narrative, which 
makes it to a great extent untrustworthy. But 
whatever defects, whether of matter or manner, may be 
alleged against this work, the style is so attractive — has 
such an equable, easy, and dignified flow — that it can 
never cease to be popular. "It is a work," says Mr. 
Arnold, "with which the student of our literature 
should make himself familiar. It is indeed very long ; 



56 



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but the theme is one deeply interesting, and the revolu- 
tion which it records has decisively influenced the whole 
course of our history down to the present day." The 
" Essay " is also a remarkable work. 



JOHN MILTON. 
1608-1674. 

Milton is to be accredited with several prose works, 
of which the principal are — 

AREOPAGITICA : A SPEECH FOR THE LIBERTY OF UN- 
LICENSED PRINTING; 
A TRACTATE ON EDUCATION; 
EIKONOKLASTES ; OR, THE IMAGE-BREAKER; 
HISTORY OF ENGLAND TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 

The poetry of Milton takes so high a place in litera- 
ture, that the prose is overshadowed and forgotten, and 
yet it is of the best order, and no way inferior in origin- 
ality of thought, in classical structure, or elegance of 
style. The matter is thoroughly English, and passages 
of the most sublime eloquence abound. It has been 
characterized by Macaulay as " a perfect field of cloth 
of gold, stiff with gorgeous embroidery." 

The " Areopagitica," though a mere pamphlet, is full 
of weighty thoughts, and is a valuable contribution to 
political science. It is an argument for the freedom of 
the press, and is perhaps the most eloquent — certainly 
one of the least rugged — among the prose works of 
Milton. 



ISAAC BARROW. 
1630-1677. 

Born in London, the son of a linendraper. Studied 
at Cambridge, where he became Master of Trinity, Yice- 
Chancellor, and Professor of Mathematics. He is noted 
for his mathematical, chemical, astronomical, and theo- 



English Literature. 



57 



logical works, which, are written with care, and give 
evidence of study and thought. The former are in 
Latin ; the latter consist of sermons and treatises on 
various subjects. 



ANDREW MAEVEL. 
1620-1678. 

Born in Lincolnshire, and educated at Cambridge. 
For some time after he left college he travelled, and 
acted as Secretary to the English Embassy at Constan- 
tinople. He became, in 1657, assistant- secretary to 
John Milton, and was elected M.P. for Hull, in which 
position he is said to have refused a bribe of £1000, 
offered to him by Charles II. 

POPERY AND ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT IN ENGLAND. 

This treatise, the greatest effort of his pen, is marked 
by sound opinions, and is written in the clear practical 
manner common to the Puritanic age. 



THOMAS HOBBES. 
1588-1679. 

Born at Malmesbury, and educated at Oxford. For 
some time he travelled on the Continent as tutor to the 
Earl of Devonshire, who made him his secretary on 
their return to England. He was also for some time 
teacher of mathematics to the Prince of Wales, then 
living in forced retirement at Paris. At the Restoration, 
Charles bestowed upon his late tutor a pension of £100 
per annum. The latter part of his life was spent in the 
retirement of Chats worth, and in the enjoyment of the 
friendship of the most distinguished men of the day. 
He possessed great genius, but was arrogant and 
dogmatic. 



58 



Handbook of 



LEVIATHAN. 

Tliis work is the principal one that carne from 
Hobbes's pen. It is a series of treatises on metaphysical 
and political subjects. The theories which he advocates 
are those of absolute monarchy, of self-care being the 
motive of all Iranian actions, and that good and evil 
are mere relative terms. 

In whatever way his opinions may be regarded, but 
one exists as to his abilities as a writer. He is profound 
yet clear, solid yet brilliant, original but not conceited. 
His style is fine, manly, and thoroughly English. 

" Impartial minds will always rank Hobbes amongst 
the greatest writers England has produced ; and by 
writers we do not simply mean masters of language, 
but also masters of thought. His style, as mere style, 
is in its way as fine as anything in English ; it has the 
clearness of crystal, and it has also the solidity and 
brilliancy. Nor is the matter unworthy of this form. 
It is original, in the seuse of having been passed through 
the alembic of his brain, even when perhaps the property 
of others. Although little of it could now appear novel, 
it was novel when he produced it." 



SIE THOMAS BROWNE. 
1605-1682. 

Born in London, the son of a merchant of good 
means, he studied at Oxford, and afterwards travelled 
through France and Italy, and then practised as a phy- 
sician at Norwich for the remainder of his life. He was 
knighted by Charles II. 

RELIGIO MEDICI ; OR, THE RELIGION OF A PHYSICIAN. 
PSEUDODOXIA EPLDEMICA'; OR, VULGAR ERRORS. 
HYDRIOTAPHIA ; OR, URN BURIAL. 

Browne was eccentric both as a man and a writer. 
He wrote in the affected manner of his day, and with 
the pedantry which to this day characterizes writers in 
the medical profession. His writings are cumbrous 
and pedantic, but good. 



English Literature. 



59 



The first work, entitled " Religio Medici"— the Reli- 
gion of a Physician — published in 1635, contains 
innumerable odd opinions on things spiritual and tem- 
poral. The " Vulgar Errors " displays great eloquence, 
learning, and shrewdness, in exposing the erroneous 
sources of many commonly received opinions. The 
" Hydriotaphia " is a discourse upon some sepulchral 
urns dug up in Norfolk. It is the most celebrated of 
all his works. In it the author speculates upon the 
vain hopes of immortality cherished by men respecting 
their worldly names and deeds, since all that remains 
of those buried in the Norfolk urns is a little dust, to 
which no name, nor the remotest idea as to individual 
character, can be attached. Many of his thoughts on 
this subject are truly sublime, and the whole are con- 
veyed in the most impressive language. 



OWEN FELTHAM 

Is the author of some curious essays on moral and 
religious subjects, entitled 

THE RESOLVES, Published in 1628, 



IZAAK WALTON. 
1593-1683. 

Born at Stafford, afterwards a linendraper in Cornhill, 
and then in Fleet Street, London. After retiring from 
business in 1643, he spent his time in following his 
favourite pursuits of fishing and writing. His works 
are : — 

THE COMPLETE ANGLER; OR, CONTEMPLATIVE MAN'S RE- 
CREATION; 

THE LIVES OF DONNE, WORTON, HOOKER, GEORGE HERBERT, 
AND BISHOP SANDERSON. 

.The first is a delightful book, "redolent of wild 



60 



Handbook of 



flowers and sweet country air." All his writings are 
characterized by the beautiful simplicity with which the 
noblest thoughts are expressed. 



JOHN OWEN, 
1616-1683, 

Born at Stadhara, in Oxfordshire, was a leading Non- 
conformist divine, and an amiable and learned man. 
Cromwell, of whom he was a special favourite, made 
him Vice- Chancellor of Oxford. 

AN EXPOSITION OF THE HEBREWS. 

A DISCOURSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

THE DIVINE ORIGINAL OF THE SCRIPTURES. 

These are the more noticeable of his many writings, 
all of which show an absence of grace, and great stiff- 
ness of style. 



ALGERNON . SIDNEY, 
1621-1683, 

The son of the Earl of Leicester, served as colonel in 
the Parliamentary army, though opposed to Cromwell's 
assumption of power. After the Restoration he spent 
eighteen years in exile on the Continent. Receiving a 
pardon from the king, he returned to England, but his 
opposition to the king and court was such, that he was 
condemned and beheaded on a charge of conspiracy. 

DISCOURSES ON GOVERNMENT, 

These were written to oppose the doctrine of the divine 
right of kings, and were not published till fifteen years 
after his death. They are chiefly designed to show the 
necessity of a balance between the popular and the 
monarchical parts of a mixed government, and have 
obviously a particular reference to the political evils of 
his own time, to which, unfortunately, he was himself 
a victim. It was Sidney's wish to see a republic in 



English Literature. 



61 



England, and for that object he laboured all his life, 
" not wisely, but too well." The above work is the only- 
important work of Sidney's that has come to us. 



HENRY MORE. 
1614-1687. 

More lived a retired and hermit-like life at Cambridge, 
where he busied himself with the more mysterious sub- 
jects of metaphysical philosophy, such as 

THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS AND INIQUITY ; 
THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 



RALPH CUDWORTH. 
1617-1688. 

Regius professor of Hebrew at Cambridge. He pub- 
lished in 1678 the first part of a celebrated meta- 
physical treatise, refuting the material and atheistic 
philosophy of Hobbes. It is called 

THE TRUE INTELLECTUAL SYSTEM OF THE UNIVERSE; 
ETERNAL AND IMMUTABLE MORALITY. 

The latter work appeared after his death. There are 
a number of this writer's MSS. works preserved in the 
British Museum. 



JOHN BUNYAN. 
1628-1688. 

Bunyan, John, an English Baptist preacher, the son of 
a tinker, followed his father's trade, and for some time, 
according to his own account, led a wandering and 
dissipated life. While serving as a soldier in the Par- 
liamentarian army he became religious, and devoted 
himself to the work of preaching. At the Restoration 
he was accused of sedition, and imprisoned in Bedford 



Handbook of 



Gaol for twelve years, where lie divided his time between 
writing books and tagging stay-laces, for the support 
of himself and family. He died in London, and lies 
buried in Bunhill-Fields burial-ground, 

THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 

GRACE ABOUNDING TO THE CHIEF OF SINNERS. 
HOLY WAR. 

These are the works by which he is chiefly known. 
The first, an allegory — the object of which is to re- 
present, under the figure of a journey taken by a pilgrim, 
the course of a Christian's life through this world to 
that which is to come — is one of the finest pieces of 
Saxon prose we have. It was first published in 1678, 
and so great was its success that it ran through ten edi- 
tions in seven years. The second is a sort of religious 
autobiography; and the last an allegory quite as fervid 
but not so well known as the " Pilgrim's Progress." 
Both the " Pilgrim's Progress " and the "Holy War" 
display a characteristic reality in the depiction of 
events narrated. In reading them it is difficult to feel 
that the personages are fictitious, and all their doings 
only the creation of the author's imagination, It is this 
power of placing fiction so as to appear like reality that 
puts Bunyan side by side with Defoe. Bunyan had, 
however, an object to serve besides the mere pleasure 
of the reader — he desired to strike home certain truths. 
"And," says Mr. Arnold, "what simple, equable, sinewy 
English the ' inspired tinker ' writes ! what fulness of 
the Christian doctrine is in him ! what clear insight into 
many forms of the Christian character ! what thorough 
understanding of a vast variety of temptations, fleshly 
and spiritual." 



RICHARD BAXTER, 
1615-1691. 

Born at Rowton, in Shropshire, where his father was 
possessed of a small freehold, he was early educated 



English Literature, 



63 



for the ministry of the Church of England by private 
study. He became Master of the Dudley Free Grammar- 
School when only twenty-three years of age ; and then 
settled down in the parish of Kidderminster. When the 
civil war broke out he became a chaplain in the Round- 
head army, not because he hated royalty, but because 
of his dislike to the conduct of the king. After the 
Restoration he was offered the bishopric of Hereford, 
which he declined; and when the Act of Uniformity was 
passed, he laid down his living, with two thousand other 
ministers, rather than take the oath. He lived for some 
years at Acton, in Middlesex, in close companionship 
with his friend and shelterer, Matthew Hale. He was, 
however, tried before the brutal Jeffreys, found giiilfcy, 
and condemned in a heavy fine. Unable to pay it, he 
lay for eighteen months in prison, till just before the 
last Revolution. Baxter was one of the most powerful 
of preachers, drawing crowds of rich and poor to hear 
him. His constitution was a feeble one, and his health 
always delicate. 

SAINT'S EVERLASTING REST. 

A CALL TO THE UNCONVERTED. 

A NARRATIVE OF HIS OWN LIFE AND TIME. 

These works are the principal, out of the large num- 
ber of one hundred and sixty, that came from his pen, 
all on Divinity. His writings are in a good Saxon style, 
like those of Bunyan and of all writers at that time who 
addressed the people. They are full of the choicest and 
most glowing imagery, and abound in passages of 
hearty eloquence. The " Saint's Best " will always be 
a popular work. The " Narrative of his own Life 99 is 
highly esteemed. 



ROBERT BOYLE, 
1627-1691, 

Son of the Earl of Cork, was born at Lismore. One 
of the original members of the Royal Society, he was 



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Handbook of 



distinguished for his researcnes into chemistry and 
natural philosophy. 

OCCASIONAL REFLECTIONS ON SEVERAL SUBJECTS. 

Although the writer of numerous works, consisting of 
philosophical treatises and religious works, the above 
is the only one of note. Swift caricatured it in his 
" Meditation on a Broomstick." 



JOHN TILLOTSON, 
1630-1694, 

Was the son of a Puritan tradesman at Sowerby, 
near Halifax. At Cambridge, where he was educated, 
he changed his religious views and entered the Church 
of England. He became a celebrated preacher at the 
church of St. Lawrence, Old Jewry, and was appointed 
Archbishop of Canterbury at the close of the Revolution, 
but only held the primacy for three years. 

SERMONS. 

These sermons are among the standard works to be 
found on the library shelves of clergymen. They are 
in good strong sensible English, practical in their 
matter, plain as to style, and without much literary 
polish. They were not published till after his death, 
being bequeathed by his will as the sole property with 
which he was able to endow his widow. On account of 
his great celebrity as a divine, they were purchased by 
a bookseller for no less than two thousand five hundred 
guineas. 



SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE. 

1628-1699. 

Born in London, and noted principally for his efforts 
as the negociator of the Triple Alliance, his scheme to 
settle the perplexed affairs of Charles II. by a Council 



English Literature. 



of Thirty, and as the English Envoy at the Hague who 
arranged the marriage between William and Mary. 
He lived with Swift, as his secretary, for some time at 
Moor Park, Surrey. 

ESSAYS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 

These essays are among the most delightful prose 
works of English literature. Their ring is musical and 
clear, and they set their ideas before the reader in a 
smooth, polished, yet learned and original manner. The 
most noted are those on Government, Learning, and 
one on the Netherlands. He also wrote a small work 
on Gardening. 



EDWARD STILLINGFLEET. 
1635-1699. 

Some time Bishop of Worcester ; he wrote some ex- 
cellent works, 

A DEFENCE OF THE TRINITY; 

A RATIONAL ACCOUNT OF REVEALED RELIGION; 
SERMONS ; 

being the principal. The Sermons are full of sound 
sense, and remarkable for their forcible style. 



F 



66 



Handbook of 



FOUKTH PERIOD, 



FRENCH INFLUENCE. 



Notwithstanding the efforts of the Puritans, the moral 
atmosphere of court life during the reign of Charles 
the Second was blighted and full of poison. At the 
Restoration the long restraint which the asceticism of 
the Commonwealth had forced upon the people was 
replaced by an opposite extreme of open profanity. 
An unappeasable desire for amusement succeeded the 
long abstinence which the Puritans had compelled— 
a desire which is natural to man, and the very crushing 
of which but adds to its intensity and longing. The 
nation, relieved of the restraint, plunged with a sort of 
madness into all manner of folly and vice, over which 
there was not the slightest attempt to throw a veil, 
even of the most flimsy character. The Cavaliers 
rejoiced "that the king had got his own again," and 
showed their joy over the party that had so long kept 
him out of his inheritance by doing that which they 
knew to be specially offensive to them. More than " an 
utter absence of shame marked the mode of life;" a 
positive glory was taken in its " inexpressible luxury and 
profaneness, gaming and all dissoluteness," and under 
such leadership as that of the king and his court, what 
wonder is it that, during the five-and-twenty years in 
which it went on, " the poison should spread right and 
left, sinking down to the lowest classes of the people ? 



English Literature. 



6? 



and still less wonder that snch shameless undisguised 
licentiousness should be faithfully reflected in the plays 
and the books which were written in the hope of ex- 
tracting smiles and gold from the beautiful profligates 
and high-born gamesters who surrounded the sullied 
throne?" 

The greater part of the literature of the Restoration 
reflected very forcibly the social and political character- 
istics of the age, just as the Puritan literature was a 
faithful reflex of the hopes, aspirations, stern piety, and 
religious fanaticism of ' the Commonwealth. 

The king brought with him from France influences, 
fashions, and vices which soon made themselves pal- 
pably felt. The fluency, vivacity, and elegance of the 
French writers appealed with greater success to the tastes 
of the court than did those of the more homely, but more 
honest and sterling, writers of England. Accordingly, 
those writers who wrote for a living, for patronage, for 
place, for power, suited themselves as best they might 
to the tastes of their courtly readers. 

The new style, which was introduced as the " style of 
civilized Europe as regulated by the most authoritative 
rules of antiquity," was to replace the rugged but tender 
manner of the English literature, which was considered 
as " too homely for polished society." Latin and 
sophistry forced fancy and plain speaking into the back- 
ground ; sentiment and beauty gave way to artificial 
but " lifeless images, borrowed from the pastorals 
of antiquity." Criticism of the outward manner 
and form took the place of search for hidden 
truth and meaning. Such was the French influence, 
which sought, with quibbles of expression and wordi- 
ness, to turn aside the steady onward march of our 
literature. 

It stood, however, the trial ; the leaven of earnestness 
was never quite exhausted ; the salt of manliness never 
quite lost its savour. It had its mission to fulfil; and its 
own strength, the growth of centuries, its oneness of 
purpose, alone saved it from becoming a mere vehicle 

f 2 



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for pleasantry, a form of words without the life of sense 
and meaning. More than that, the very effort which 
might have retarded did hut prepare it for the time, 
shortly to arrive, when it was to become an engine of 
popular power and an influence for popular good. As 
society shook off the licentiousness and follies of the 
age of the Stuarts, while it retained the freedom of 
manner and closer connection between the various 
classes of society which was equally characteristic of 
it, so the literature threw off the restraint which had 
been put upon it, while it added to its own originality 
and nervous force a certain elegance in the choice 
and expression of words. The quaint formal Latinized 
style of the Elizabethan and Puritan era was re- 
placed by a more idiomatic structure, more balanced 
periods, and melodious inflexion. This made literature 
more suited to the popular taste. 

It was essentially a period of transition, both in style 
as well as in character — the ease, forcibility, and origin- 
ality of the previous era giving place to the artificiality 
and cold accuracy which marked the literature of the 
eighteenth century. The people had become much 
more of a power in the State, and had become better 
educated and critical : it soon, therefore, became ne- 
cessary to supply them with books, and authors began 
to find out that they were no bad patrons. 

It was, however, some time before the notion became 
exploded, that the great body of the people had no 
interest in the better class of literary works ; or that to 
treat of inferior subjects, was beneath the dignity of 
authors. The operations of the Press began to display 
much more alacrity, and men of the very best talent 
began to use their powers upon various other prose 
subjects than history, philosophy, or divinity, which 
were the only classes of literature that had been culti- 
vated to any purpose. Andrew Puller and Izaak "Walton 
are fair specimens of the first miscellaneous writers, the 
list of which soon included others of greater reputation. 
All this paved the way for a new and peculiar kind of 



English Literature. 69 



literature, which, while it may be to a certain extent 
traced to French influence, is, in its essential character- 
istics, original. 

Sheets of news and newspapers had been established 
in London and other large cities since the time of the 
civil war ; but the idea of issuing a periodical sheet 
"commenting on the events of private life, and the 
dispositions of ordinary men, was never before enter- 
tained either in England or elsewhere." 

It was now that a writer for the first time undertook 
to meet his readers several times a week with a short 
article, which had generally for its subject some circum- 
stance that had taken place in society, or was a short 
tale or allegory. The " Tatler," the first of these 
sheets, was originated by Sir Richard Steele, who was 
soon joined by Addison, and followed by Johnson and 
others. The object of the " Tatler " was, as stated by 
Steele, " to expose the false arts of life, to pull off the 
disgraces of cunning, vanity, and affectation, and to 
recommend a general simplicity in our dress, our dis- 
course, and our behaviour." There was also a portion 
of the paper set apart for news and intelligence of a 
political and public character. 

The price of the " Tatler " was one penny. When it 
had reached the 271st number it merged into the more 
celebrated " Spectator," in which the writers strictly 
preserved their incognito. The latter was published 
daily, in the form of a single leaf, and in each number 
was a complete essay. Its largest edition was 1680, 
and its chief writers were Steele, Addison, Tickell, 
and others. 

The " Spectator," which extended to 635 numbers, 
or eight volumes, is not only much superior to 
the " Tatler," but stands at the head of all the 
works of the same kind that have since been pro- 
duced ; and, as a miscellany of polite literature, is not 
surpassed by any book whatever. All that regards the 
smaller morals and decencies of life, elegance or just- 
ness of taste, and the improvement of domestic society, 



70 



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is touched upon in this paper with, the happiest com- 
bination of seriousness and ridicule ; it is also entitled 
to the praise of having corrected the existing style 
of writing and speaking on common topics, which 
was much vitiated by slang phraseology and profane 
swearing. 

Though these essays were addressed to the general 
public, it was the upper classes that most extensively 
patronized them : still it was an advance onward, and, all 
things considered, a remarkable one. Following close 
upon the essays, came Defoe with his papers and 
appeals to the people, and the novelists with their 
branch of literature, which has almost run every other 
branch completely out of the field. 

The period embraced between the years 1700 and 
1730, and which saw Steele, Acldison, Pope, Newton, 
and others in their glory and prime, has also been styled 
the Augustan era of English literature, on account of its 
supposed resemblance, in intellectual wealth, to the age 
of the Emperor Augustus. 

" This opinion has not been followed or confirmed in 
the present age. The praise due to good sense, and a 
correct and polished style, is allowed to the prose writers, 
and that due to a felicity in painting artificial life, is 
awarded to the poets ; but modern critics seem to have 
agreed to pass over these qualities as of secondary 
moment, and to hold in greater estimation the writings 
of the times preceding the Restoration, and of our own 
day, as being more boldly original, both in style and 
in thought, more imaginative, and more sentimental. 
The 'Edinburgh Review' appears to state the prevailing 
sentiment in the following sentences—' Speaking gene- 
rally of that generation of authors, it may be said that, 
as poets, they had no force or greatness of fancy, no 
pathos, and no enthusiasm, and, as philosophers, no 
comprehensiveness, depth, or originality. They are 
sagacious, no doubt, neat, clear, and reasonable ; but, 
for the most part, cold, timid, and superficial.' The 
same critic represents it as their chief praise that they 



English Literature. 



71 



corrected the indecency, and polished the pleasantry and 
sarcasm, of the vicious school introduced at the Resto- 
ration, f Writing/ he continues, 6 with infinite good 
sense, and great grace and vivacity, and, above all, 
writing for the first time in a tone that was peculiar to 
the upper ranks of society, and upon subjects that were 
almost exclusively interesting to them, they naturally 
figured as the most accomplished, fashionable, and per- 
fect writers which the world had ever seen, and made 
the wild, luxuriant, and humble sweetness of our earlier 
authors, appear rude and untutored in the comparison.' 
While there is general truth in these remarks, it must, 
at the same time, be observed, that the age produced 
several writers, who, each in his own line, may be called 
extraordinary. Satire, expressed in forcible and copious 
language, was certainly carried to its utmost pitch of 
excellence by Swift. The poetry of elegant and arti- 
ficial life was exhibited, in a perfection never since 
attained, by Pope. The art of describing the manners, 
and discussing the morals of the passing age, was 
practised, for the first time, and with unrivalled felicity, 
by Addison. " 



DRYDEN. 
1631-1700. 

Ranking among the first poets as he does, it is only 
necessary to allude here to the few pieces of prose that 
came from his pen. These consist of — 

AN ESSAY ON DRAMATIC POESY; 
PREFACES AND DEDICATIONS. 

These are all written with great brilliancy and elabo- 
ration. In the essay, he labours to prove, without much 
result, that poetry is a fitting medium for tragedy. In 
the latter pieces he discusses, in a polished manner, and 



Handbook of 



with great taste, the various topics of literature and art. 
These are the first easy and graceful essays upon the 
lighter departments of literature which appeared in 
England. Dr. J ohnson describes them as airy, animated, 
and vigorous. In the essay, he has drawn characters of 
his dramatic predecessors, which are allowed to be un- 
surpassed, in spirit and precision, by any later or more 
laborious criticisms. 



SAMUEL PEPYS, 
1703, 

Was the son of a London tailor. He became Secretary 
to the Admiralty. His 

DIARY 

is a most amusing picture of the life of the time, de- 
tailing most minutely the dinners, parties, dress, and 
fashion. The diary was written in shorthand. 



JOHN LOCKE. 
1632-1704. 

Born at "Wrington, near Bristol, and educated first at 
Westminster School, and afterwards at Oxford. It 
was intended that he should follow the profession of 
medicine. Becoming, however, connected with the cele- 
brated Earl of Shaftsbury, he followed that nobleman 
into exile, when he fled to Holland, in 1682. He re- 
turned to England in 1688, and was appointed one of 
the commissioners of appeal, with a salary of £200 a 
year. While acting as tutor in Lord Shaftsbury' s 
family, he superintended the education of his grandson, 
the author of the " Characteristics." 

Egr some time previous to his death, he lived in 
Essex, at the house of Sir Francis Masham. He was a 



English Literature. 



73 



man of extraordinary ability ; but of singularly amiable 
character, and perfect simplicity of manners. 

ESSAY CONCERNING THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING. 
LETTERS ON TOLERATION. 
CONDUCT OF THE UNDERSTANDING. 
THOUGHTS CONCERNING EDUCATION. 
TWO TREATISES ON CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

Locke, following in the footsteps of Bacon, found 
the scholastic mode of reasoning at Oxford repugnant 
to him. His great work, " Essay on the Understanding," 
has for its theory that, in the investigation of natural 
phenomena, the same principle of observation and ex- 
perience should be applied, as Bacon had applied to the 
researches in natural science. The success of the book 
was very great, and it still continues an undisputed 
text-book in our colleges. 

Locke wrote other works, distinguished for their 
enlightened views, and liberal and tolerant principles, 
of which the most noted are those given above. 



JOHN RAY. 
1628-1705. 

A blacksmith's son at Black Notley, in Essex, and a 
great naturalist. Wrote two sterling works, 

THE GENERAL HISTORY OF PLANTS ; 

THE WISDOM OF GOD IN THE WORKS OF CREATION. 

The latter is a popular work of great merit. 



JOHN EVELYN. 
1620-1706. 

Born of good fortune and parentage in London, he 
spent his leisure time in making science popular. He 
was one of the most zealous members of the Boyal 
Society, then in its infancy. 



74 



Handbook of 



It was at his beautiful house aud grounds at Dept- 
ford, that Peter the Great, of Russia, lived when over 
here. 

SYLVA. 
TERRA. 
A DIARY. 

The first contains an account of forest trees and 
their uses ; the second is on agriculture ; and the third, 
but most interesting, is his diary, which lays before 
us, with great clearness, English life of the time of 
Charles the Second. 



WILLIAM SHERLOCK, 
1641-1707, 

Dean of St. Paul's, and a celebrated divine ; wrote 

A PRACTICAL DISCOURSE CONCERNING DEATH; 

VINDICATION OF THE TRINITY; 

ON THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

He is chiefly remembered for his bitter writings 
against the Dissenters, and his controversy with Dr. 
South, 



THOMAS SPRAT, 
1636-1713, 

Bishop of Rochester, born in Devonshire, and educated 
at Oxford. Wrote 

A HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY ; 
AN ACCOUNT OF THE RYE-HOUSE PLOT; 
A SHORT LIFE OF COWLEY; 

all of which are elegant in style. 



English Literature. 



75 



EAKL OF SHAFT SBURY. 
1671-1713. 

Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftsbury, was 
born in London. He was the grandson of the cele- 
brated Cabal Ashley, who placed him when a boy under 
the care of Locke. He attracted considerable attention 
in the reign of Anne. Died while at Naples. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF MEN, MANNERS, OPINIONS, AND 
TIMES. 

This is a collection of his numerous writings con- 
cerning the operations of the human mind, and was 
published in three volumes immediately after his death. 
The style is melodious and elegant, but somewhat 
laboured. 

It contains much acute remark and fine sentiment ; 
but, though favourable to natural religion, it is slightly 
tinged with scepticism regarding revelation, and, upon 
the whole, somewhat fantastic. " The great point of his 
philosophy is that there exists a ' moral sense,' by which 
virtue and vice — things naturally and fundamentally 
distinct — are discriminated and at once approved of or 
condemned, without reference to the self-interest of him 
who judges." 



MATTHEW HENRY, 
1662-1714, 

Was born in Flintshire, brought up to the law, and 
afterwards became a Dissenting minister. 

A COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE, 

which he left unfinished, is the chief work by which 
he is remembered. 



76 



Handbook of 



THOMAS BURNET, 
1635-1715, 
Master of tlie Charterhouse ; wrote 

THE SACKED THEORY OF THE EARTH, 

and other works, which are remarkable only for 
their splendid eloquence. Their opinions are valueless, 
and they are full of errors and superstition. 



GILBERT BURNET. 
1643-1715. 

Burnet was born at Edinburgh, and educated for the 
Church at Glasgow University, where he was for some 
time Professor of Divinity. He came to London in 1674, 
where he commenced writing, and soon attracted con- 
siderable notice. A thorough Protestant, when James 
II. ascended the throne he retired to Holland, where he 
took a considerable part in promoting the Revolution. 
On the accession of William of Orange he was made 
Bishop of Salisbury. 

HISTORY OP THE REFORMATION. 
HISTORY OF MY OWN TIMES. 

Both these works are exceedingly valuable, and cha- 
racterized by natural and vigorous writing. The former 
is said to be the first historical work in our own language 
that is supplemented and confirmed by an appendix of 
documents. The latter is remarkable for the fidelity 
and discrimination shown in the portraiture of the men 
with whom he was connected in political and religious 
life. Though ill-arranged and inaccurate, it is yet, 
owing to its contemporary character, a valuable origi- 
nal source of information for the period between the 
Restoration and 1713. 



English Literature. 



77 



ROBERT SOUTH, 
1633-1716, 

The son of a London merchant, was born at Hackney, 
and educated at Oxford, where he became public 
orator. He was rector of Islip, in Oxfordshire, and 
chaplain to Chancellor Clarendon. His 

SERMONS, 

by which he is remembered, are a strange compound of 
divinity and wit, learning and malice. He was an 
extreme Royalist and Churchman, and held Noncon- 
formists and Roundheads in equal abhorrence. He 
maintained what are called High Church principles; 
that is to say, defended the ancient privileges and doc- 
trines of the Church against every attempt at reducing 
or altering them. 



WILLIAM PENN, 
1644-1718, 

Son of the celebrated Admiral Penn, and distinguished 
as having founded the State of Pennsylvania, in the 
United States ; wrote several treatises in defence of 
Quakerism. 

NO CROSS, NO CROWN. 
THE CONDUCT OF LIFE. 

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE PEOPLE CALLED QUAKERS, 



JOSEPH ADDISON. 
1672-1719. 

Addison was the son of a clergyman, who at the time 
of his birth was rector of Milston, near Amesbury, in 
Wiltshire, and who afterwards became Dean of Lich- 
field. Being sent to the Charterhouse, London, to be 
educated, he there made the acquaintance of Richard 
Steele. When fifteen years old he left the Charter- 



78 



Handbook of 



house for Queen's College, Oxford, where lie covered 
himself with distinction by his Latin poems, and won a 
scholarship in Magdalen. Addison was intended for 
the Church, but was persuaded that there was more 
chance of getting on in connection with the State, and 
some fortunate verses in honour of the king obtained 
recognition, first from Lord Somers, and then from their 
royal subject, and the writer received a pension of £300 
a year, and travelling expenses, that he might cultivate 
and improve his taste by travel on the Continent. The 
travelling expenses were, however, cut off in a year or 
two, and at King William's death the pension was 
stopped also, and Addison had " to wait quietly for 
fortune in a shabby lodging, up two pair of stairs, in 
the Haymarket." 

When the news of the battle of Blenheim reached 
England, Addison was engaged by the Lord Treasurer 
Gro dolphin to write a poem on the event. This he did 
with such satisfaction to everyone, that he soon found 
himself on the road to honour. In the course of the 
next twelve years he was made Commissioner of Appeals, 
then Under-Secretary for Ireland, then Secretary for 
Ireland, and then, in the year 1717, one of the principal 
Secretaries of State. About a year before the latter ap- 
pointment he married the Countess Dowager of Warwick, 
and took up his residence at Holland House. The 
marriage was not attended with very happy consequences. 
She was a dashing woman, fond of show and rank ; he 
was of a quiet disposition, cold and polished in manner. 
Whether to this, or to the habits of the age, may be 
attributed the cause of the unfortunate love of liquor 
which soon after displayed itself, it is difficult to say. 
It is certain, however, that his fair name and reputation 
is sullied by such a stain. Through the decay of his 
health, he was compelled to retire from office, with a 
pension of £1500 a year. His bodily infirmities in- 
creased, and, soon after, his brilliant life came to a close, 
at the early age of forty- eight. 

PAPERS IN THE " TATLER " AND " SPECTATOR. ' 



English Literature. 



79 



Addison's fame as a writer rests principally upon 
these contributions, and to him we may ascribe the 
" formation of a style truly classical and pure, whose 
simplicity and grace have not yet been surpassed ; and 
which, presenting a model of unprecedented elegance, 
laid the foundation for a general and increasing atten- 
tion to the beauty and harmony of composition. 

"His critical powers were admirably adapted to 
awaken and inform the public mind ; to teach the 
general principles by which excellence may be attained ; 
and, above all, to infuse a relish for the noblest pro- 
ductions of taste and genius. " 

In all his writing he aimed — and steadily kept his 
aim in view — at improving and making better and wiser 
his readers, teaching and disseminating a love for 
morality and religion. 

For the " Spectator," Addison was a constant writer, 
and mainly contributed to its success. His papers were 
marked with one of the four letters, C.L.I. 0. The 
Essays on " Milton," the Vision of " Mirza," and the 
account of Sir Roger de Coverly, are some of the 
finest. 

SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 
1642-1727. 

This illustrious English astronomer was born on the 
estate of Woolsthorp, near Grantham, in Lincolnshire. 
At an early period he showed an astonishing application 
to study, and a decided taste for mathematics and me- 
chanics. In 1660 he was sent to Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge, of which he afterwards became a fellow. While 
there he had for his mathematical teacher the celebrated 
Dr. Barrow ; and, before he was 23 years of age, he 
made his greatest discoveries in mathematics. In 1665 
he left Cambridge to avoid the plague, and retired to 
Woolsthorp. There, on observing an apple fall from a 
tree, he formed the first idea of the law of gravitation 
and of the system of the world. In 1669 he succeeded 



80 



Handbook of 



Dr. Barrow as Lucasian professor of mathematics. In 
1672 lie was admitted a member of the Royal Society 
of London. In the ensuing years he communicated to 
that society the results of some of his labours. In 1687 
he was commissioned by the University of Cambridge 
to defend its privileges, assailed by King James II. 
The following year the University elected him as its 
representative in the House of Commons. He was a 
member of that parliament which excluded James II. 
from the throne (1688), and was again elected in 1701. 
In 1692 his reason appears to have been for a time some- 
what shaken, consequent most likely upon overwork, 
although some say on account of the loss of valuable 
papers, burned through the upsetting of a candle upon 
them by his dog Diamond. In 1695 he received an 
appointment as Warden of the Mint, a post worth about 
£600 a year. This he held for four years, when he was 
promoted to be Master, with a salary of more than 
double that of Warden. 

Honours crowded upon him towards the end of his 
life. Of these the chief were his election in 1703 as 
President of the Royal Society, which office was con- 
ferred on him every succeeding year until his death ; 
and his knighthood in 1705, under the royal hand of 
" good Queen Anne." 5 His long life, more fruitful, 
perhaps, in great wonders of scientific discovery than 
that of any other man in ancient or modern times, 
came to a close at Kensington, when he had passed 
his eighty-fourth year. 

PRLNCIPIA. 

OPTICS: A TREATISE OF LIGHT. 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL AND ON THE 

APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN. 
CHRONOLOGY OF ANCIENT KINGDOMS AMENDED. 

The " Principia ■; or, Mathematical Principles of 
Natural Philosophy," was written in Latin, and first 
published by order, and at the expense, of the Royal 
Society, to whom it had been recommended by Halley, 
the astronomer. It is intended to explain a new system 



English Literature. 



81 



of philosophy, based upon geometry, by which, the 
grander operations of nature and the movements of 
the planets are shown to be governed by and depen- 
dent upon fixed rules, which also regulated the smallest 
particles of matter. 

Newton, like many students of natural science, was 
deeply fascinated by the profound and mysterious pro- 
phecies of the Bible. The " Observations on Daniel" is 
a fair specimen not only of Newton's literary power, but 
illustrates the depth of his religious feeling. Both the 
6 1 Observations" and the " Chronology" were published 
after the author's death. 



SAMUEL CLARKE, 
1675-1729. 

Born at Norwich, and educated at Cambridge, 
where he attained the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 
Entering the Church, he held important livings both in 
Norwich and London, where he was rector of St. James's, 
Westminster. He was possessed of great mental en- 
dowments, and a man of singularly virtuous character. 
His devotion to his sacred office may be gathered from 
the fact that he refused the lucrative office of Master 
of the Mint, which became vacant by the death of his 
friend Newton. 

PARAPHRASES ON THE FOUR GOSPELS. 

SERMONS ON THE BEING AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 

THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 

EXPOSITION OF THE CHURCH CATECHISM. 

NATURAL A1SD REVEALED RELIGION. 

THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 

All these range among the best theological and meta- 
physical works in the English language. The " Essay on 
the Being and Attributes of God" is an a -priori argu- 
ment. 



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SIR RICHARD STEELE. 
1671-1729. 

At the time of his birth, at Dublin, his father was 
acting as private secretary to the Duke of Ormond. 
He was sent to be educated at the Charterhouse, where 
was formed the long and close friendship with Addison, 
whom he joined at Merton College, Oxford, where he 
only spent a short time, leaving without a degree. He 
then, either for a freak or attracted by the uniform, 
enlisted as a private soldier in the Horse- Guards, and 
lost a fortune, for a wealthy Irish relative cut his name 
out of his will when he heard of such a reckless pro- 
ceeding. Lord Ormond, however, his captain, obtained a 
cornetcy for him ; he became secretary to Colonel Lord 
Cutts, and rose to the rank of captain in Lucas's 
Fusiliers. 

Steele lived a wild life, but was not without his good 
points, and his good companionship won him a host of 
friends ; in 1707 he was made First Gazetteer, and then 
Commissioner of Stamps. He was an ardent politician, 
became a member of the House of Commons, and a 
friend of the Whigs, to whose party he did great service. 
Under the Tory ministry of Queen Anne he was expelled I 
from the House as a libeller; but under George I. he 
entered parliament again as member for Boroughbridge, 
Yorkshire, and was appointed Surveyor of the Royal 
Stables, Governor of the Royal Comedians, and was 
knighted. His irregular life, however, reduced him to 
great pecuniary distress. . He died in Wales, of 
paralysis, and dependent upon the bounty of his 
creditors. 

THE CHRISTIAN HERO. 
SEVERAL COMEDIES. 

PAPERS IN S THE " TATLER/' " SPECTATOR/' "GUARDIAN," "THE 
CRISIS," AND OTHER POLITICAL PAMPHLETS. 

The first work was a serious and religious book, 
written during his wild life about town, and intended 



English Literature, 



83 



as an apology. " But his only reward was the laughter 
of the town ; for the idea of a fast- living soldier, who 
could never resist the attractions of the Rose Tavern, 
or the delight of beating the watch at midnight, 
appearing in print as a religious character, seemed to 
have in it something irresistibly comic." Yet for the 
time Steele was doubtless sincere in his intentions of 
reform. 

He shortly afterwards appeared as the author of three 
comedies of a second-rate character : the failure of one, 
" The Sober Lover," caused him to give up play- writing 
in disgust. Two years afterwards, in 1709, appeared 
the first number of the "Tatler," which marked the 
birth of a new branch in English literature, and earned 
for its author and originator the title of the father of 
Periodical literature. The " Tatler " was a penny sheet, 
which gave a short article, with scraps of news, and came 
out three times a week. It continued for two years, 
when it ceased, and, after a silence of two months, the 
" Spectator " arose, and between the seventh and eighth 
volumes of the latter, the " Guardian " appeared. In 
the course of the next few years appeared the " Eng- 
lishman," and the " Reader," in both of which Steele 
was concerned, though with but little profit or re- 
putation. His pamphlet "The Crisis" raised an 
opposition which led to his being expelled the House of 
Commons. 

In literary power Steele is inferior to his friend and 
fellow-writer Addison. His essays are nevertheless 
fresh and natural, full of " lively fancy, pleasing allegory, 
critical taste, playful satire." His sketches of character 
are felicitous in their variety and truthfulness. To the 
imagination of Steele we owe the original sketch of 
" Sir Roger de Coverly," which Addison afterwards 
made his own. Rattlebrain as he was, and given to 
extravagance and conviviality, Steele was the friend of 
virtue, and to his credit be it said that his writings, in 
conjunction with the works of others of his day, did 
much to raise the tone of the literature of the period, 

G 2 



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Handbook of 



and his plays " powerfully contributed to banish from 
the stage the ribaldry that, from the time of the Resto- 
ration, had made it the chief centre of immorality." 
The best known of these latter is the very successful 
comedy of " The Conscious Lovers," which brought 
to its author a large sum. 



LAWRENCE E CHARD. 
1671-1730. 

A clergyman of the Church of England ; published a 

ROMAN HISTORY ; 

GENERAL ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY ; 
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

These works, chiefly compilations from other writers, 
are of some merit and authority. They continued for a 
long time in very general use, and even now are useful 
as works of reference. The style is laborious, without 
displaying much elegance. 



English Literature. 



85 



FIFTH PERIOD. 



MODERN POPULAR INFLUENCE. 



The commencement of the eighteenth century saw 
the rise of what may be termed the period of popular 
influence. 

The Review of Defoe — published at first once, then 
twice, then three times a week, at a price that placed it 
within the reach of all — was the first strong and sue- 
cessful appeal to the English people. The era of patron- 
age was passing, if it had not passed, away ; literature 
was to run alone, and authors were to stand upon their 
own merits. In the earlier periods, it was almost essen- 
tial that authors should have a patron. Both literature 
and the taste for it was unformed. There was no read- 
ing public ready and anxious to get a glimpse of an 
author's work ; no publishers ready to give an honour- 
able remuneration for the brain expenditure of the book- 
maker. To venture, therefore, on writing a book, was a 
serious matter, requiring much consideration. Three 
things were necessary ; first, repose, in order to prose- 
cute study; secondly, the necessaries of life in some 
small degree ; thirdly, the means of making the work 
known, and getting it read when written. 

In the infancy of our literature, all this could only 
be done in one way — by obtaining a rich nobleman for 
patron, who could first afford to lend substantial aid ; 
and either by monetary help, or taking the author into 



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Handbook of 



his own service, or obtaining for him some sinecure office, 
secure for him the wants of daily life, and then, by his 
personal influence, obtain a circulation for the book when 
finished. 

Judging from the fact that many of our best authors 
were thus sustained and encouraged, and knowing how 
difficult it is for unknown men to get help, and further 
remembering that true genius is always modest, it 
cannot but be doubted that there must have been many 
"mute inglorious Miltons," who were, with their talent 
and genius, lost to posterity, because of their inability 
to obtain notice and recognition. As literature grew 
older, these difficulties began to vanish; authors be- 
came independent of patronage, in proportion as 
they found general readers, till, at last, the patronage 
became little more than the permission to dedicate, 
with fulsome flattery and abject humility, the new 
book. 

To obtain this permission, the poor author had "to 
wait in a great man's hall to pluck my Lord by the 
sleeve as he passed to his carriage, and beg a subscrip- 
tion for a forthcoming volume of poetry or prose. 
Success in such an undertaking depended much upon 
the number of half-crowns the poor author could afford 
to invest in buying the good- will of the porter or con- 
fidential footman of His Grace or Sir John. Not even 
the highest literary man was free from this humiliation 
of cringing before the great. No book appeared with- 
out a fulsome dedication or flattering apostrophe ad- 
dressed to some person of quality, as the phrase then 
went, whose footman came smirking to the author's 
dingy room a few days after publication, with a present 
of five, or ten, or twenty guineas — the sum varying 
according to the amount of flattery laid on the belauded 
name, or, perhaps oftener, according to the run of luck 
which the gratified fashionable had happened to meet 
at the card- table of the night before." 

While, in the earlier days, patronage fostered and per- 
haps preserved literature, it must also often have hap- 



English Literature. 87 



pened that it perverted the author from his honest way, 
| and prevented him from saying all the true things that 
; longed to burst the prison-house of his mind. While 
eating the bread, and receiving the kindness of a patron, 
it was but a natural thing that he should study his 
opinions. His taste was appealed to and considered : 
to preserve the gratuity, and with an eye to future help, 
the author had to belaud the patron to the skies, pro- 
claim his virtues, and shield, if not defend, his vices. 
All this retarded the progress of literature, Its onward 
march, however, could not be stopped: underneath 
all, mind and heart were at work. The people began to 
yearn for mental food ; their partizanship, as we have 
seen, was easily and successfully appealed to through 
books and pamphlets ; and, as the taste for reading in- 
creased, so did the independence of the author, till, at 
last, he was able to shake off altogether the mental 
thraldom, and appear boldly before the world, appealing 
to the public for sympathy and reward. 

This emancipation was the gradual work of the seven- 
teenth century, and we can watch at the same time the 
growth, in proportion, of free thought and expression. 
The essayists with their penny sheets were an immense 
stride onward. Though they appealed chiefly to the 
aristocracy — as may be gathered from the fact of their 
circulation being so small — yet they proved the possi- 
bility of a penny sheet being able to exist and to find 
readers. 

In such manner, therefore, as Steele and Addison ap- 
pealed to the upper classes, whose tastes were alone 
considered, and the whims, fancies, and fooleries of 
whose lives were alone depicted, Defoe in his Review 
appealed to the people generally, with an equally success- 
ful result. It must be remembered that newspapers 
and reviews, with criticisms on men and passing events, 
were not a novelty in Defoe's time ; for the impetus had 
been already given to the press, which has, by its own 
force and power, raised itself to the honour and dignity 
of a fourth estate. News sheets had been common 



88 



Handbook of 



during the civil war, but the "Examiner," Defoe's Re- 
view, was the first that dared, in the name of the people, 
to criticise the doings of the court and government. 

Defoe boldly threw off the yoke, and appealed 
to the patronage of the people. Sick, or well, in or 
out of prison, he carried on the work with a hearty 
reception and recompense. He fought the people's 
battle against the bigotry and tyranny of the authori- 
ties ; and, though the latter, by the right of might, 
pilloried and imprisoned him, they neither silenced nor 
disgraced him. A sympathizing crowd gathered round 
with expressions of hope and encouragement for him, 
and execration on those who were 

" At a loss to find his guilt, 
And couldn't commit his crimes." 

Erom that time the English public began to be the 
patrons of English literature. They were waiting and 
ready to be addressed, ripe for reading ; and the 
change came — the literature was supplied. 

It must not, however, be forgotten that the arts of 
manufacturing and producing copies of books had 
some effect in increasing and making the popular taste. 
This capability of production was the salvation of 
many authors. Had it not been for the printer and 
bookseller, the " Spectator," the " Tatler," the " Exa- 
miner," would not have reached the hands of their 
readers. Even with the facilities which were possessed 
at the commencement of the eighteenth century, the sale 
of books in general was small and slow. " The circle 
of book-readers was narrow ; but still narrower was 
the circle of book-buyers. Indeed, many men never 
bought books at all ; but, when any work came out of 
which they wished to get a sight, they went to the book- 
seller's shop day after day, and, for a small subscription, 
obtained leave to read at the counter. Marking their 
page where they left off in the afternoon, they came 
back again and again, until the volume was finished. 
This practice, which crowded the shops arid stalls of 



English Literature. 



89 



the booksellers, a hundred years ago, with a floating 
population of readers, laid the foundation of those 
useful circulating libraries and reading- clubs which so 
abound in modern days." 

A few years later on, and this state of things began 
to change. The influence of free thought and expres- 
sion, combined with free trade in authorship, and 
public patronage, was shown in the rise of such men 
as Robertson, who, from an unknown, obscure, and 
poverty-stricken condition, successfully appealed to and 
obtained a well-earned and merited reward from, not 
only the English people, but the readers of other 
countries also. 

Then Richardson ventured upon a new path, which 
did and could only succeed by the support of many 
readers. Other writers also rose out of the darkness 
of obscurity, and lit the lamp of their genius at the 
light of the public eye. Appealing to its sympathies, 
they received its approbation. 

So much, then, for the rise of popular influence, which 
has caused our literature to make such gigantic strides 
within the last fifty years. The public have been and 
are no mean patrons ; but, at the same time, they are 
not always just judges. And this is shown the more 
as considerable approval is often given to whims and 
fancies, which now and then rise up and spread a flimsy, 
but attractive veil, behind which more robust thought 
is compelled to hide. The veil is, however, sooner or 
later pierced ; its tinsel is sooner or later tarnished; and 
truth and right, which have never swerved from their 
path, go steadily on to maintain the reputation of our 
literature in ages to come. 

The first fifty years of the seventeenth century may 
perhaps be said to have produced more men of letters 
and of science than any other period of the same 
extent. " Yet, while letters, and the cultivators of 
letters, were thus abundant, it must be allowed that, if 
we keep out of view the rise of the species of fiction 
called the novel, the age was not by any means marked 



90 



Handbook of 



by sncli striking features of originality or vigour as 
some of the preceding eras. It was rather remarkable 
for polishing former styles, and improving the external 
figure of knowledge, than for creating much that was 
new." 

The rise of the novel, which has since assumed so 
high a rank in literature, certainly introduced a new 
class of literature, which was founded upon the heroic 
romances which arose in France during the seventeenth 
century. The fictions of Defoe were a considerable 
advance upon some efforts made by previous writers, 
notably those of a lady named Aphra Behn, in the time 
of Charles II., who wrote tales of personal adventure, 
and of Mrs. Manley, author of " The New Atalantis." 
The works of both these writers were humorous and very 
licentious. Defoe's fictions, while they certainly contain 
far more interesting sketches of life and character, and 
the situations and plot display greater ingenuity, are, 
at the same time, undeniably more pure. It may, 
however, be fairly said of novels, before the time of 
Richardson, that they were mean in subject and 
indecorous in style, and calculated to degrade, while 
they could not in any respect improve, their readers. 



DANIEL DEFOE. 
1661-1731. 

The son of a London butcher, he had but brief 
schooling, though what he had was well received, and 
made the best use of. After serving a hosier, tile-maker, 
and woollen merchant, he turned to literary work, and 
wrote some political pieces. For his opposition to the 
court and king he suffered imprisonment, fine, and 
pillory. Defoe had a hatred of bigotry and cant, and 
he is often found abusing all parties alike, Churchmen 



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91 



and Dissenters. He fought not for any section, but 
for the English people. This obtained for him but 
little sympathy from any. He died deeply in debt. 

POLITICAL PAMPHLETS. 
ROBINSON CRUSOE. 
HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. 
HYMN TO THE PILLORY. 
EXAMINER REVIEW. 

These are the best known of Defoe's works. One of 
his pamphlets, entitled " The Good of Subjects is the 
End of Kings," was sold in the streets to the number 
of 8,000. Defoe's greatest works, because they are not 
ephemeral, are his works of fiction. In these he excels 
more than any other English writer in the power he 
displays of " painting fictitious events in the colours of 
truth." His style is simple, concise, and natural. In 
the "Examiner Review," which he started in 1704, we 
have the commencement of our present newspapers, and 
the predecessor of the present " Examiner " newspaper. 
It was brought out while he was in prison, and was 
sold for a penny, and published twice and three times 
a week. When Defoe died, he left behind him no less 
than 210 books and pamphlets. 



JOHN ARBUTHNOT. 
1667-1735. 

Born in Kincardineshire, he became noted in London 
as physician to Queen Anne, as a wit, and as a writer 
of works of a humorous tone. His virtue and amia- 
bility were quite equal to his literary talent. 

MARTINUS SCRIBLERUS. 

HISTORY OF JOHN BULL. 

ON THE SCOLDING OF THE ANCIENTS. 

ART OF POLITICAL LYING. 

The first is published in Pope's Works, and is a satire 
upon the abuses of human learning. The second, full 
of satire and ridicule directed against Marlborough, 



92 Handbook of 



is a burlesque on the war of the Spanish succession. 
The satire of this writer is free from the bitterness 
which characterized that of Swift; "a good-natured 
vein of pleasantry runs through all his compositions." 



JOHN STRYPE. 
1643-1737. 

John Strype, a clergyman of the Church of England, 
and lecturer at Hackney, wrote many biographical and 
antiquarian works, such as — 

LIVES OF CRANMER, CREKE, WHITGIFT; 
ANNALS OF THE REFORMATION; 
ECCLESIASTICAL MEMORIALS. 



JONATHAN SWIFT. 
1667-1745. 

Swift was born of English parents, in Hoey's Court, 
Dublin, in 1667. He was sent, at his uncle's expense, 
first to Kilkenny School, then to Trinity College, Dublin, 
and afterwards to Oxford, where he narrowly escaped 
being plucked. At the death of his uncle, he was thrown 
upon the world without any resources. He took refuge 
with, and was for some years the secretary and com- 
panion of, his relation Sir William Temple, with whom 
he resided at his seat at Moor Park until Sir William's 
death in 1698. In 1693 he became prebend of Kilroot, 
at £100 a year; returning, however, to Moor Park, 
he met King William, who offered to make him a 
captain of horse, which Swift refused. In 1713 he 
was presented with the deanery of St. Patrick's, an 
appointment which he owed to his support of the Tory 
party. During his residence in London, he kept a 
journal of passing events, which is preserved in his 
correspondence with the celebrated Hester Johnson, 
known in his writings as Stella. She was the daughter 



English Literature. 



93 



of Sir William's housekeeper, and Swift is supposed to 
have privately married her. His political importance 
in England ceased on the accession of the new dynasty, 
and he devoted himself to his clerical duties — without, 
however, ceasing to concern himself with those measures 
that affected the interests of Ireland. Under the signa- 
ture of "Drapier," he wrote a series of letters to a 
Dublin newspaper, opposing a monopoly of the copper 
coinage, which the government intended to grant by 
patent to a person of the name of Wolverhampton 
Wood. These letters kindled such a flame of resistance 
to the scheme that it was abandoned : no one would 
take the money, and, though attempts were made to bring 
him to trial, they all failed. His public spirit procured 
him unbounded popularity ; and, to the end of his life, 
he was honoured by his countrymen as one of the 
greatest benefactors of Ireland. He had long been 
subject to fits of giddiness and deafness, from a cold 
caught while sitting in the garden at Moor Park. For 
some years before his death these fits increased in 
severity — so much so as to put a stop to all labour, 
though he continued to write till 1736 — and this affection 
ultimately assumed the form of mental disease. In 
1741 his mind had so far decayed, and he had become 
so sullen and ferocious, that he was placed under per- 
sonal restraint ; and in 1745 he died, after having lived 
for more than two years in a state of almost total 
silence. 

PAMPHLETS ON VARIOUS POLITICAL SUBJECTS. 
TALE OF A TUB. AN ALLEGORY. 
M. B. DRAPIER'S LETTERS. 

AN ARGUMENT AGAINST ABOLISHING CHRISTIANITY. 
GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. 

Swift's prose is powerful, and of the purest Anglo- 
Saxon ; " he hated foreign words as he hated foreign 
men, and has given us such nervous bare unadorned 
genuine English as we get from no other pen." He 
shares this in common with Bunyan and Defoe, each of 
whom are masteis in so difficult an art. As a prose 



94 Handbook of 



satirist Swift has never been equalled. " He was, with- 
out exception, the greatest and most efficient libeller 
that ever exercised the trade ; and possessed, in an 
eminent degree, all the qualifications which it requires 
— a clear head, a cold heart, a vindictive temper, no 
admiration of noble qualities, no sympathy with suffer- 
ing, not much conscience, not much consistency — a 
ready wit, a sarcastic humour, a thorough knowledge 
of the baser parts of human nature, and a complete 
familiarity with everything that is low, homely, and 
familiar in language. His works are chiefly of a 
political character. They are written with great 
plainness, force, and intrepidity, and always advance 
at once to the matter in dispute. Their distinguishing 
feature, however, is the force and vehemence of the in- 
vective in which they abound; the copiousness, the 
steadiness, the perseverance, and the dexterity, with 
which abuse and ridicule are showered upon the adver- 
sary." 

" The Tale of a Tub "is an allegory written to combat 
and ridicule Hobbes's "Leviathan," and in support of 
the Church of England, ridiculing both Roman Catholics 
and Dissenters alike. Although Swift considered " The 
Tale of a Tub " his best work, modern criticism has 
awarded the palm to " Gulliver's Travels," to which 
work he certainly owes his widest reputation. It was 
written as a great political and personal satire, and 
published anonymously in 1726 with great success, 
being received and read by high and low. 

The travels are among the dwarfs of Lilliput, the 
giants of Brobdignag, the philosophers of Laputa, and 
the magicians of Glubbdubdrich. The last voyage gives I 
evidence of the ferocious spitefulness which was a 
characteristic of Swift's nature. It is filled with the 
most revolting pictures and impure satire. 



English Literature. 



95 



LORD BOLINGBKOKE. 
1672-1751. 

Henry St. John Vincent, Viscount Bolingbroke, was 
born at Battersea, and educated at Eton and Oxford. 
He became Secretary of State in the Tory Ministry of 
the reign of Anne ; after George I. ascended the throne 
he was threatened with impeachment, and, in order to 
avoid it, he took refuge in France, where he joined the 
Pretender. He was pardoned in 1723, and returned to 
England, but was again compelled to flee the country 
for a short time. The rest of his life was spent in 
entire exclusion from all power. 

KEFLECTIONS ON EXILE. 
LETTEKS ON THE STUDY OF HISTORY. 
LETTER ON THE TRUE USE OF RETIREMENT. 
LETTERS ON THE SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM. 
IDEA OF A PATRIOT KING. 

These works were written during his enforced retire- 
ment, the first three dating from France, the two latter 
from Battersea. His mortified ambition led him to 
publish them and others for the purpose of annoying the 
Ministry, Their matter is of little value, but their style 
is singularly eloquent and polished. It has been said 
to consist of a happy medium between that of the 
scholar and the man of society, and to have thus fur- 
nished a good model for popular writing. 



BISHOP BERKELEY. 
1684-1753. 

George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne, was born at 
Kalevin, in the county of Kilkenny, Ireland, and edu- 
cated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he obtained a 
Fellowship. He afterwards went to London and Oxford, 
at which place he died. He was amiable in character, 



96 Handbook of 



and was possessed of a most winning address and 
extraordinary natnral gifts. 

THEORY OF VISION. 

PRINCIPLES OP HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. 

MINUTE PHILOSOPHER. 

In the first he strives to prove that all sensible 
qualities — hardness, figure, extension — are mere ideas in 
our own minds, and have no existence at all in the 
thingfs we call hard. Later on, in the " Principles of 
Human Knowledge," he extends the doctrine to im- 
materialism, and attempts to show " that we cannot 
prove that anything really exists, but that all objects 
which we suppose to be tangible make a mere impres- 
sion on the mind by the immediate act of the Deity, 
according to certain laws, from which, in the ordinary 
course of nature, there is no deviation." 

In the " Minute Philosopher " he brings all these ideas 
to bear, in a defence of the Christian religion. His 
works are still held in esteem ; their style is scholarly 
and clear, and his language is simple. 



HENRY FIELDING. 
1707-1754. 

Born at Sharpham Park, in Somersetshire, 1707, son 
of a lieutenant-general in the army, and a man of 
extravagant habits. Educated first at Eton, he went 
afterwards to pursue his studies at Leyden, but 
pecuniary difficulties* prevented him from completing his 
course. This, and his own love of pleasure, caused him 
to hesitate in his choice of a profession, and he began 
to write for the stage. In 1735 he married Miss Crad- 
dock, whose little fortune of fifteen hundred pounds 
was soon dissipated. He then entered the Middle 
Temple, for the purpose of completing his long-sus- 
pended study of the law, and was called to the Bar in 
1740. Few briefs came in his way, and he employed 



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97 



his pen in writing political pamphlets. In 1749, 
through the interest of Lord Lyttelton, he was ap- 
pointed one of the justices of the peace for Middlesex 
and "Westminster. He died, of a complication of 
disease brought on by the dissipation of his early life, 
at Lisbon, and was buried in the British factory there. 

PLAYS AND POLITICAL PAMPHLETS. 
JOSEPH ANDREWS. 
TOM JONES. 
AMELIA. 

JONATHAN WILD. 

It was to the success of Richardson that we owe 
" Joseph Andrews/' in which Fielding ridicules the, 
what was to him and many of his class, sentimental- 
ism of "Pamela." The strength of the novel may be 
said to lie in the character of Parson Adams, whose 
" simplicity, benevolence, and purity of heart, are so 
admirably mingled with pedantry, absence of mind, 
and with the habits of athletic and gymnastic exercise, 
then acquired at the Universities by students of all de- 
scriptions, that he may be safely termed one of the 
richest productions of the muse of fiction." " Tom 
Jones" was written during the first year of his magistrate 
life, and contains scenes and characters which could be 
drawn only from the daily experiences of the police- 
bench. It is considered to be by far his best work, and 
is an account of the scenes and adventures in the life of 
a foundling. "Jonathan Wild" depicts the career of a 
thief, who turns thief- catcher, and ends his days upon 
the gallows ; and " Amelia," that of a virtuous and do- 
mestic woman. While the latter has been justly cen- 
sured for its immoral tendency, there is but one opinion 
as to the extraordinary skill and talent with which it is 
written, and the amusement which it affords. It may 
be regarded as a masterpiece in the department of 
humorous fiction. 



H 



98 



Handbook of 



SAMUEL RICHARDSON. 
1689-1761. 

Born in the county of Derby. Richardson was tbe 
son of a cabinet-maker, in bumble circumstances of life. 
He received only a very inferior education, and was ap- 
prenticed to a printer at tbe age of fifteen, with whom be 
remained seven years, discharging very humble duties. 
His attention, however, to his business, the correctness 
of his morals, and his intelligence, obtained for him the 
favour of his master, who called him the " pillar of his 
house." He became his master's son-in-law, and was 
soon at the head of a considerable printing establish- 
ment in Fleet Street. He had done little, however, 
which showed that he was likely to make the press teem 
with his own productions. In 1754 he was elected 
Master of the Stationers' Company, and in 1760 he 
bought half "a share in the patent of King's printer. 

PAMELA. 

CLARISSA HARLOWE. 
SIR CHARLES GRANDISON. 

Till Richardson was fifty-three years old he had pro- 
duced nothing better than prefaces, dedicatory epistles, 
&c, written for the booksellers during his obscurity. 

The origin of " Pamela " was as follows : — He had 
agreed, being an expert in letter- writing, to compose a 
collection of specimen letters — a polite letter- writer, in 
fact — for two booksellers ; and it occurred to him that 
the work would be greatly enlivened if the letters were 
connected by a thread of narrative. The booksellers 
applauded the notion, and he accordingly worked up 
the true story of a young servant-maid — the Pamela, 
an old romance name, of the novel — which had come 
to his knowledge a few years before. 

The subject is virtue rewarded in the domestic history 
of a pretty peasant girl who goes out to service ; and, j 
after enduring many mishaps and escaping many dan- 
gers, becomes the wife of her rich young master. 



English Literature. 



99 



So great was the popularity which, attended its ap- 
pearance that five editions were sold within the first 
year. 

The work, notwithstanding its flattering reception, 
became the object of severe criticisms. Richardson 
endeavoured to reply to his censors by his " Pamela in 
High Life." Unfortunately this production, much 
inferior to the former, was far from attaining the end. 
" Clarissa Harlowe " appeared in 1748, "and Sir Charles 
Grandison" five years afterwards; each of which, like 
" Pamela," were founded upon the delineation of real 
character and the incidents of contemporary life. 

The professed aim of Richardson as a novelist was to 
inculcate and promote piety and virtue ; and, when we 
compare them with the works that had preceded them, 
" leaving out of sight those modern fictions which have 
since enriched our libraries, we shall be better able to 
appreciate the value of such productions, and we shall 
be less disposed to cavil at their faults, which stand 
clearly out in the light of modern refinement. Their 
naturalness and comparative purity of tone made them 
a precious boon to reading England in the day when 
they were written." 



LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE. 
1690-1762. 

Daughter of the Duke of Kingston, and wife of Mr. 
Edward Wortley Montague, whom she accompanied to 
Constantinople, where he was ambassador in 1717. 
She was a woman of masculine vigour of mind, and 
intimate with all the great writers of her day. 

LETTERS, 

written by her from Turkey and other places to her 
friends, are considered perfect models of epistolary 
composition. They are lively and descriptive, and 
those published constitute five large volumes. There 

H 2 



100 



Handbook of 



are many others republished which remain in the 
possession of her family. 



LAWRENCE STERNE. 
1713-1768. 

Born of English parentage, at Clonmel, in 1713, his 
father being a lieutenant in the army. Having obtained 
several benefices in England, he resided for many years 
at his living of Sutton, in Yorkshire, where his amuse- 
ments were "books, hunting, fiddling, and shooting." 

TRISTRAM SHANDY. 
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY. 

The first work of this eccentric author is a comic 
fiction in eight volumes, written with great humour and 
considerable power of language. It contains much that 
is absolute nonsense, and many expressions unbecoming 
in a clergyman. Its strokes of pathos and flights of 
fancy, have never been surpassed. It is like no other 
novel ever written : it has no interest of plot or of inci- 
dent ; " its merit and value lie partly in the humour 
with which the characters are drawn and contrasted, 
partly in that other kind of humour which displays 
itself in unexpected transitions, and curious trains of 
thought." Sir Walter Scott said that, in the characters 
of Uncle Toby, and Corporal Trim, the author " exalted 
and honoured humanity, and impressed upon his readers 
such a lively picture of kindness and benevolence, 
blended with courage, gallantry, and simplicity, that 
their hearts must be warmed whenever it is recalled to 
memory." The " Sentimental Journey," through France 
and Italy, is a series of observations on men and manners. 



TOBIAS SMOLLETT. 
1721-1771. 

Born at Dalquhurn-house, near Renton, in Dumbar- 
tonshire, and educated at the Grammar- School of Dum- 



English Literature. 



101 



barton, and the University of Glasgow. He began life 
as an apprentice to Mr. Gordon, an apothecary in Glas- 
gow. His grandfather, Sir James Smollett of Bonhill, 
who had borne the expenses of his edncation, having 
died without leaving him any farther provision, he went 
up to London, where, not meeting with the success he 
had anticipated, he entered the navy as a naval surgeon, 
and was present at the siege of Carthagena, but after- 
wards abandoned the medical profession for a literary 
career, and fixed his residence in London, where he took 
a prominent interest in literature and politics. He was 
imprisoned for three months and fined £100 for libel, 
while editing the " Critical Review." He died at 
Leghorn. 

ADVICE: A SATIRE. 
RODERICK RANDOM. 
PEREGRINE PICKLE. 
HUMPHREY CLINKER. 
SIR LANCELOT GREAVES. 
FERDINAND, COUNT FATHOM. 
CONTINUATION OF HUME'S HISTORY. 
&c, &c. 

All the novels display the greatest ingenuity and 
humour. Their originality, truthfulness, and raciness 
have enabled them to survive the many changes of taste 
which have taken place since they were written. They 
depict scenes of sailor life, and are more popular at the 
present time than are the works of either Fielding or 
Richardson. Humphrey Clinker is undoubtedly the 
finest and most brilliant of them. " Like Fielding, 
Smollett is liable to censure for the impurity of many 
of his scenes, and much of his language, and for the 
baseness and wickedness of some of those characters 
for which he chiefly demands the affections of the 
reader ; but, greatly as these peculiarities may tend to 
unfit his volumes for indiscriminate perusal, his works 
present a faithful picture of the manners of the time, 
which were deficient alike of taste and of morality." 



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Handbook of 



LETTERS OF JUNIUS. 
1769-1772. 

These " Letters," -which, appeared in a London news- 
paper, aimed at exposing the aggressions of the Crown 
npon the liberties of the people ; and, in performing the 
task, the highest personages of the realm became the 
objects, in turn, of the most unparalleled invective. 
These " Letters" stand alone in onr language for condensed 
power of sarcasm and magnificence of declamation. 
"The author displayed such powers of keen yet delicate 
sarcasm, such dexterity in parrying and retorting the 
attacks of his adversaries, and so masterly a knowledge 
of the English constitution, as, joined to the brilliancy 
and polish of his style, gave to his compositions the 
character of a standard work, which they have ever 
since retained." The authorship may be considered 
unknown, though there is some slight evidence which 
fixes it upon Sir Philip Francis, who was a leading 
member of the Opposition. 



EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. 
1694-1773. 

Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, known 
as a wit and the model of good society, was first a 
member of the House of Commons, and entered that of 
the Lords on the death of his father. He gained great 
distinction by his insinuating eloquence. He was after- 
wards Ambassador in Holland, Viceroy in Ireland, and 
Secretary of State. He was connected with the most 
distinguished men of England and of France, particu- 
larly with Voltaire and Montesquieu. 

LETTERS TO HIS SON. 

This, his only popular composition, contains many 
excellent advices for the cultivation of the mind and 
worldly conduct ; but is deficient in the higher morality 



English Literature. 



103 



which is the basis of all true nobility of character. The 
letters are elegant and polished in style. 



OLIVER GOLDSMITH. 
1728-1774. 

Oliver Goldsmith, the son of a poor clergyman, was 
born at Pallas, in the county of Longford, Ireland, and 
educated as a Sizar at Trinity College, Dublin, where 
he barely obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He 
made various attempts to be a tutor, a clergyman, a 
lawyer, a physician, studying for the purpose at Edin- 
burgh and Ley den, which latter place he left with " one 
guinea in his pocket, but one shirt to his back, and a 
flute in his hand," to make the grand tour of Europe. 
He travelled through Holland, France, Germany, and 
Switzerland on foot, often without any subsistence, 
except such as might be brought by his flute. Returning 
into England in 1758, he began to write in the literary 
journals, and published under his own name some 
works which, not only created for him a great reputation, 
but were profitable in a pecuniary sense ; nevertheless, 
his prodigality involved him in ceaseless difficulty. 

Previously to settling down in earnest to get a liveli- 
hood by means of his pen, he endeavoured to get a 
footing in his own profession of medicine. In a little 
shop on Eish Street Hill, he acted as compounder and 
general drudge to an apothecary. He then commenced 
practice in Southwark, among the poor ; there we see 
him dressed in a faded laced coat, laughing and talking 
with an old school-fellow whom he meets in the street ; 
and then, a short time afterwards, in rusty-black velvet, 
with second-hand cane and wig, concealing a great 
patch in his coat by pressing his old hat fashionably 
against his side, while he resists the efforts of his poor 
patient to relieve him of the encumbrance. 

The whole of Goldsmith's life was a conflict with 
creditors, the world, and society. Now dressed in sky- 



104 



Handbook of 



blue and silver-laced coats, and promenading in Vaux- 
hall, spending money freely with Grub Street impro- 
vidence ; now wrapped in an old dressing-gown, hiding 
in a wretched London garret, glad of the smallest 
pecuniary assistance. He died of low fever, in London, 
with his debts and the memory of his reckless life 
casting heavy shadows on his dying bed. 

AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRESENT STATE OF POLITE LEARN- 
ING IN EUROPE. 
THE VICAR OF "WAKEFIELD. 
ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

HISTORY OF THE EARTH AND ANIMATED NATURE. 
HISTORIES OF GREECE AND ROME. 
THE GOOD-NATURED MAN. 
SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER. 

The "Vicar of Wakefield" is his greatest prose work. 
"It is perhaps the very happiest, as it is certainly one 
of the least exceptionable, of the novels of the last 
century." It is the history of an amiable and siniple- 
niinded clergyman, during a series of domestic misfor- 
tunes, that severely try, but never subdue, his moral 
courage, and over which he is finally triumphant. With 
some defects in point of probability, it is a singularly 
beautiful and interesting picture of the middle-class of 
English rural society. An exquisite naturalness is its 
prevailing charm. No bad man could write a book so 
full of the soft sunshine and tender beauty of domestic 
life, — so sweetly wrought out of the gentle recollections 
of the old home at Lissoy. It was coloured with the 
hues of childhood's memory, and the Doctor Primrose 
of the story is a faithful portrait of his father. 

The historical works were principally compilations, 
and are well known and used at the present time as 
school-books. 

Of the plays still popular it may be said that both the 
" Good-Nature d Man" and "She Stoops to Conquer" 
were clever attempts to bring back the theatrical public 
to the old way of thinking, which demanded " little 
more than nature and humour, in whatever walks of life 



English Literature. 



105 



they were most conspicuous." Delineation of character 
was therefore his principal aim. 



DAVID HUME. 
1721-1776. 

David Hume, a celebrated Scotch philosopher, and 
the descendant of an ancient Scottish family, was born 
in Edinburgh. He was brought up to the law, but never 
entered into business. When about twenty-four years 
old, he went to France to pursue his literary occupations 
in retirement and with economy. Subsequently hon- 
oured with several public appointments, he became 
secretary to General St. Clair, whom he accompanied to 
the courts of Vienna and Turin. In 1766 he was ap- 
pointed Under-Secretary of State. Two years after he 
quitted public life and retired to Edinburgh, where he 
died. 

TREATISE OF HUMAN NATURE. 

INQUIRY CONCERNING THE PRINCIPLES OF MORALS. 
HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 

The former of these works was afterwards published 
in two volumes of " Essays and Treatises, Moral, Political, 
and Literary." In these treatises Hume went yet farther 
than Bishop Berkeley, and propounded a theory of uni- 
versal scepticism : he " denied mind, the substance in 
which successive sensations and reflections are supposed 
to inhere. That we do perceive, and do reflect, is, he 
admitted, certain ; but what that is which perceives and 
reflects, whether it has any independent being of itself, 
apart from the series of impressions of which it is the 
subject, is a point altogether obscure, and on which, he 
maintained, our faculties have no means of determining. 
Philosophy was thus placed in a dilemma, and became 
impossible." 

While holding the post of librarian to the Faculty of 
Advocates at Edinburgh, he commenced a " History of 
England." The first volume appeared in 1754-6, and 



106 



Handbook of 



the whole work was completed in 1761. This work was 
the first in which the sequence of historical events is 
treated in a philosophical manner. It is without doubt 
the highest kind of historical writing that had yet ap- 
peared, and, though ma,ny subsequent writers have dis- 
played learning, accuracy, and elegance, yet Hume's 
work has ever been a standard work. It excels in 
graceful narrative and dramatic description, and dis- 
plays a deep vein of philosophical reflection, with a clear 
and profound insight into character. 

" Its defects are carelessness as to facts and style, 
deliberate partiality towards the Cavalier party in the 
contests of the seventeenth century, to which may be 
added one of greater importance, for which, however, 
the author is not blameable — its want of the inestimable 
advantages which are now derivable from state docu- 
ments and other genuine materials of history." 

His avowed bias for despotism and the Stuarts does 
not, however, become of an extravagant character. The 
circumstance that Hume, being a Scotchman, could 
hardly be said to speak the language in which he wrote, 
adds somewhat to the interest of the book. 



HENRY HOME. 

1096-1782. 

He assumed the title of Lord Karnes on ascending 
the Scottish bench. He wrote several metaphysical and 
legal works, of which the chief and best known is — 

THE ELEMENTS OF CBITICTSM, 

in which he " founds the art upon the principles of 
human nature." 



SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
1709-1784. 

Samuel Johnson, son of a bookseller, was born at 
Lichfield, in Staffordshire, where he received the nidi? 



English Literature. 



107 



merits of his education. He was sent to study at Pem- 
broke College, Oxford, by some gentleman who, noticing 
his abilities, endeavoured to forward his studies ; he 
had not, however, the means to finish them there, 
and was compelled to bring them to a close. On the 
death of his father, he became teacher at a school in 
Bos worth ; but he soon left this situation, and went to 
live with a friend in Birmingham. He married a widow 
with a little property, and, having failed in an attempt 
to establish a school in his native town, set out for 
London, in search of literary employment, accompanied 
by the celebrated David Grarrick, who was one of his 
pupils. Literary work proved less remunerative than 
he expected, and for years he struggled against poverty, 
neglect, and want of the bare necessaries of life ; so 
much so, that he was frequently compelled to pass the 
day without a dinner. Llis anxieties were at length 
relieved, and his merits acknowledged, by George III., 
through the kindness of Lord Bute, who conferred on 
him a pension of £300 a year. He died at Bolt Court, 
Fleet Street, London. " Johnson laboured under consti- 
tutional infirmities of body and mind, which rendered 
him occasionally gloomy, capricious, and overbearing ; 
though he seems to have been by no means deficient in 
either abstract or practical benevolence." 

PAPERS IN THE "GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE." 

PAPERS IN THE " IDLER," " RAMBLER/' AND "ADVENTURER." 

RASSELAS. 

TOUR TO THE HEBRIDES. 
LIVES OF THE POETS. 
ENGLISH DICTIONARY. 

The works of Johnson are becoming less familiar than 
they were to modern readers. The best productions of 
his pen are the " Lives of the Poets," written as prefaces 
to a collection of their respective works. While these 
Lives are masterpieces of English, they must not be 
taken as reliable, so far as biography or criticism is 
concerned. 

"Rasselas" is a tale in which the hero spends some 



108 Handbook o\ 



time in searching for happiness. The moral of the work 
is, that the darkest periods of the present life, which 
puzzle and confound and seem so antagonistic to the jj 
doctrine of a kind, overruling Providence, are lighted 
up with a compensating faith in a future immortality. . 
The compilation of the Dictionary occupied the years 
from 1747 to 1755. The price stipulated for was £1,575. 
While it is now considered somewhat defective in 
etymology and limited in the selection of words, it is yet 
a work of great value for the rich store of quotations 
it contains, many of which are beautiful and well chosen. 

" Johnson's style is cumbrous, antithetical, and pom- j 
pous, yet possesses, generally, great dignity and strength, 
sometimes even rising to remarkable beauty and noble- 
ness. It was so influential upon the men of his day 
that it caused a complete revolution, for a time, in 
English style, and by no means for the better ; since 
inferior men, though they could easily appropriate its 
peculiarities or defects- — its long words, its balanced 
clauses, its laboured antitheses — could not with equal ■ 
ease emulate its excellences." 



SOAME JENKYNS, 
1704-1787, 

A witty and speculative writer, produced — 

A FREE INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF EVIL. 
A VIEW OF THE INTERNAL EVIDENCES OF THE CHRISTIAN 

RELIGION. 
DISQUISITIONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. 

These ingenious works were exceedingly popular in 
their day ; but the interest which then attached to them 
has gradually faded away. 



DR. ADAM SMITH. 
1723-1790. 

Born at Kirkaldy, in Fife shire, Scotland. He studied 
at Glasgow, and afterwards at Oxford, and in 1748 



English Literature. 



109 



went to Edinburgh, where he lectured on rhetoric and 
literature. In 1752 he was made Professor of Moral 
Philosophy at Glasgow. He afterwards accompanied 
the Duke of Buccleugh on his travels on the Continent, 
and in Paris became intimate with the economists Tur- 
got and Quesnay, with D'Alembert, Necker, Marmontel, 
&c. He returned to Scotland in 1766, and retired to 
Kirkaldy. Two years afterwards he was appointed 
Commissioner of the Customs in Scotland, a lucrative 
place, which he retained until his death. 

THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENTS. 

INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND CAUSES OF THE WEALTH 
OF NATIONS. 

The first is a metaphysical work, in which he ex- 
plains all human morality by sympathy, or " that senti- 
ment which causes us to place ourselves in the position 
of our fellow-creatures, and think and judge as they 
do." 

In his " "Wealth of Nations," if he did not invent the 
science of political economy, he enlarged and system- 
atized it. He considers labour as the foundation of 
wealth, and recommends the division of labour, as well 
as entire freedom of commerce and industry. " He 
also showed, in opposition to the commonly-received 
opinions of the merchants, politicians, and statesmen of 
his time, that wealth does not consist in the abun- 
dance of gold and silver, but in the abundance 
of the various necessaries, conveniences, and enjoy- 
ments of human life ; that it is in every case sound 
policy to leave individuals to pursue their own interests 
in their own way ; that, in prosecuting branches of in- 
dustry advantageous to themselves, they necessarily 
prosecute such as are, at the same time, advantageous 
to the public ; and that every regulation intended to 
force industry into particular channels, or to determine 
the species of commercial intercourse to be carried on 
between different parts of the same country, or between 
distant and independent countries, is impolitic and 
pernicious." 



110 



Handbook of 



WILLIAM ROBERTSON. 
1721-1793. 

Dr. "William Robertson, son of a Presbyterian min- 
ister, was born at Borthwick, near Edinburgh. In his 
early youth he showed a strong love of study. Leaving 
the University of Edinburgh, he embraced the pro- 
fession of his father, and at the age of twenty-two 
was presented to the living of Gladsmuir, in Hadding- 
tonshire, and afterwards became minister of Lady 
Lester's Church, Edinburgh. The head of a numerous 
family, of which at the death of his father he was the 
only support, Dr. Robertson remained for some time 
in humble circumstances ; but, becoming distinguished 
by his writings, he was appointed Principal of the 
University of Edinburgh, and soon received a striking 
mark of royal approval, in his appointment as historio- 
grapher for Scotland. He died in the enjoyment of the 
esteem of his fellow- citizens, and the admiration of the 
educated of all lands. 

HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 

HISTORY OF THE REIGN OF CHARLES V. 

HISTORY OF AMERICA. 

The first of these works obtained for the then 
unknown minister a most brilliant reputation. En- 
couraged by its reception, he at once commenced what 
is by far the finest work of the three — " The History of 
Charles the Fifth of Germany." It took him ten years 
to complete what, from the very nature of the materials, 
was a most difficult work. It was, however, a perfect 
success, and materially increased his fame. The "History 
of America" is the lightest, and perhaps the most enter- 
taining, of all his works. His merits as a writer are 
thus described by one of his biographers : £C His style is 
pure, sweet, dignified without stiffness, singularly per- 
spicuous, and often eloquent ; the arrangement of his 
materials is skilful and luminous, his mode of narrative 
distinct, and his descriptions highly graphical ; and he 



English Literature. 



Ill 



displays a sagacity in the development of causes and 
effects, and in his judgment of public characters and 
transactions, which is "very remarkable in one who was 
brought up in obscurity and retirement. If there is 
less glow and ardour in his expression of moral and 
political feelings, than some eminent writers in a free 
country have manifested, there is, on the other hand, 
all the candour and impartiality which belong to a cool 
temper, when enlightened by knowledge and directed 
by principle." 



EDWARD GIBBON. 
1737-1794. 

Born at Putney, in Surrey, of an ancient family, and 
educated at Westminster School and Magdalen College, 
Oxford. After reading Bossuet's "Variations," he turned 
Eoman Catholic ; but, being sent by his father to reside 
with a Calvinist minister at Lausanne, he returned to 
the Protestant faith. During his stay he became a 
perfect master of French and Latin. In 1770 he entered 
Parliament, where he sat for eight years without taking 
any prominent part in political affairs. He was also 
for some time Captain in the Hampshire Militia. After 
living in Switzerland, he died in London of a long- 
standing disease. 

STUDY OF LITERATURE. 

HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN 

EMPIRE. 
MISCELLANEOUS WORKS. 

The first volume of the " Decline and Pall " was pub- 
lished in the year 1776, when he had been six years in 
Parliament, and the last in 1788. The circumstance 
that led to the writing of the books is thus told by 
himself : — 

"As I sat musing amidst the ruins of the Capitol, 
while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the 
Temple of Jupiter, the idea of writing the Decline and 
Pall of the city first started to my mind." 



112 



Handbook of 



As a literary performance, it must be regarded as the 
noblest historical work in the English language. Its 
characteristics are vast and solid erudition, criticism 
exact and ingenious, and an almost constantly sustained 
interest in the narrative. It abounds in splendid pas- 
sages and curious discussions ; and is written in a style, 
which, though affectedly sonorous and occasionally ob- 
scure, is such as to display a thorough mastery of the 
English language. It is full, however, of defects and 
flaws. It repudiates Christianity, and underrates the 
sufferings and faithfulness of the early Christian 
Martyrs. 

" When a Christian bishop or doctor, or a religious 
king, comes before his field of vision, it is not in Gribbon 
to be just; he cannot or will not believe that such a 
man was anything more than a compound of enthusiasm 
and superstition, in whom morality was always ready to 
give way to ecclesiastical considerations ; and his sneer- 
ing cavils seem to leave their trail upon the purest 
virtue, the most exalted heroism, which the times that 
he writes of produced for the instruction of mankind." 

The chapters on the spread of Christianity have little 
of the fire with which he describes the blood-stained 
marches of Mahomet. He also somewhat delights to 
dwell on licentious and disgusting details. 



HORACE WALPOLE. 
1718-1797. 

Third son of Robert Walpole, first Earl of Orford, to 
which title he succeeded towards the close of his life, as 
third earl. He held some valuable sinecure offices, and 
was possessed of an income of £4,000 a year. Though a 
member of the House of Commons for twenty-six years, 
he took but very little part in its business. He spent the 
greater part of his time at his villa, at Twickenham, 
named Strawberry Hill, which he had built and furnished 
in strict Gothic taste. There he followed his favourite 



English Literature. 



113 



pursuits of literature, and set up a printing-press of his 
own. 

iEDES WALPOLIANA: AN ACCOUNT OF HIS FATHER'S HOUSE. 

HISTORIC DOUBTS ON THE REIGN OF RICHARD III. 

CATALOGUE OF ROYAL AND NOBLE AUTHORS. 

ANECDOTES OF PAINTING IN ENGLAND. 

THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO : A GOTHIC ROMANCE. 

HISTORY OF THE LAST TEN YEARS OF GEORGE THE SECOND 

LETTERS. 

All but the two last were published during his life- 
time. These two, however, are the most valuable, the 
6 'Letters " especially so, being full of the most lively and 
sparkling descriptions of the character, manners, and 
customs of his own times. 

Walpole, "though a polished and keen, is by no means 
a genial, writer; selfish himself, he did not much believe 
in human disinterestedness, and was destitute of those 
strong human sympathies and antipathies which impart 
a certain interest to the works of much inferior men." 



EDMUND BURKE. 
1730-1797. 

Born in Dublin, where his father practised as an 
attorney, and enjoyed large and thriving practice. Edu- 
cated first at Balletore School, Kildare, and then 
under a Quaker tutor, named Abraham Sharkelton, he 
entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1743, and com- 
menced at the Middle Temple four years afterwards. 
In 17 61 he appeared on the arena of political life, as 
private secretary to Hamilton, then Secretary of State 
for Ireland, and had a pension of £300 settled upon him. 
This, however, he threw up and returned to London. 
Appointed secretary to the Duke of Buckingham, he 
entered Parliament in the following year as member for 
Wendover. Among the foremost men of St. Stephen's 
Burke soon took an honoured place. Eor eight- and- 
twenty years the walls of the ancient hall rung with 
the "rolling periods of his grand eloquence." As an 

I 



114 



Handbook of 



orator, Burke was matchless. Through the American 
war, which he opposed, he made many noble orations on 
behalf of the colonists, but his crowning glory is the 
speech on the impeachment of Warren Hastings. 
Opening the case in February, 1788, in a speech of 
four days, he continued his statement during certain 
days of April, and wound up his charges with an ad- 
dress which began on the 28th of May, and lasted for 
the nine succeeding days. "As he spoke, the scenery 
of the East — rice-field and jungle, gilded temple and 
broad-bosomed river, with a sky of heated copper 
glowing over all — unfolded itself in a brilliant picture 
before the kindled fancy of his audience ; and when the 
sufferings of the tortured Hindoos, and the desolation 
of their wasted fields, were painted as only Burke could 
paint in words, the effect of the sudden contrast upon 
those who heard him was like the shock of a Leyden 
jar. Ladies sobbed and screamed, handkerchiefs and 
smelling-bottles were in constant use, and some were 
even carried out in fits." 

On the death of his son Richard, he retired to his 
estate at Beaconsfield, where he died. 

VINDICATION OF NATURAL SOCIETY. 

ESSAY ON THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL. 

SKETCH OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 

REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. 

LETTER TO A NOBLE LORD. 

LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE. 

OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONDUCT OF THE MINORITY. 

Of these works the " Reflections on the Revolution in 
France," is the best and most powerfully written, and 
next to it, as a specimen of his peculiar style, stands 
the " Letter to a Noble Lord." In the former, he raises 
a protest and warning to England not to cherish the 
feelings that were doing such harm, and " bearing so 
terrible a harvest across the waves of the channel." 
In it is contained the famous passage on Marie Antoin- 
ette, and the " ages of chivalry." It had an immense 
success, and was replied to by Thomas Paine. Besides 



English Literature. 



115 



the above works. Burke for some time conducted the 
6 ' Annual Register. ' ' 



WILLIAM PALEY. 
1743-1805. 

Born at Peterborough, where his father was a clergy- 
man. Educated at Christ Church, Cambridge, where 
he took the degree M.A., was elected a Fellow, and 
appointed one of the College Tutors in 1776. In 1776 
he married, and quitted the University, after living 
there for ten years. He retired to the vicarage of 
Dalston, in Cumberland. Soon afterwards he was 
presented to the living of Appleby, and with a Pre- 
bend's stall in Carlisle Cathedral. In 1782, he was 
made Archdeacon of the diocese, and soon after Chan- 
cellor, all of which preferments he owed to the friend- 
ship of the Bishop of Carlisle. He soon afterwards 
received the valuable living of Bishops Wearmouth, 
was made a Sub-dean of Lincoln, and a Prebend of 
St. Pancras. In 1795, the University of Cambridge 
created him D.D. 

THE PEINCIPLES OF MORAL AND POLITICAL ECONOMY. 

nonm paulin^. 

EVIDENCES OP CHRISTIANITY. 
NATURAL THEOLOGY. 

The first work is one of great value, " though its 
conclusions on the foundation of moral distinctions, 
on subscriptions to articles of religion, on the British 
constitution, and several other topics, have been fre- 
quently assailed by equally able writers." 

The " Horee Paulina?," is a valuable exposition of the 
evidence of the truth of the gospels to be found in the 
writings of the Apostle Paul. 

The "Natural Theology," is an ingenious argument in 
favour of the Deity, deduced from His works. " The 
writings of Paley, all of which refer to the highest and 
most important questions upon which human reason can 
be exercised, are less remarkable for eloquence than for 



116 



Handbook of 



minute and elaborate reasoning, an easy and familiar 
style of illustration, and a vigilant and comprehensive 
sagacity, which pursues an argument through all its 
details, and never fails to bring it clearly out at last." 



CHARLES JAMES FOX, 
1748-1806, 

"Was the son of the first Lord Holland, the rival and 
opponent of Pitt, and was educated by his father till old 
enough to proceed to Oxford. His University career 
was somewhat dissipated. He took his seat in Parlia- 
ment for Midhurst, when but twenty years of age. In 
1770, he was appointed a Lord of the Admiralty, and 
afterwards a Commissioner of the Treasury. In 1780, 
he was elected member for Westminster, and took office 
as Secretary for Foreign Affairs. On the appointment 
of the Earl of Shelbourne as Prime Minister, Eox re- 
signed. As a private individual, his character was of 
the most amiable kind, and he was greatly beloved for 
his kindly disposition and impartiality. Fox was a 
powerful orator, and strictly logical speaker ; but, in 
eloquence and brilliancy, he stands second to Pitt, 
Burke, and Sheridan. 

HISTORY OF THE EARLY PART OF THE REIGN OF JAMES II. 

This work, with an introductory chapter, is but 
a fragment of a more elaborate work which Fox con- 
templated writing respecting the transactions which 
" preceded and attended and followed " the Revolution 
of 1688. This small portion displays a simple and un- 
pretending style, without any effort at profound thinking, 
or very elegant writing. 



RICHARD PORSON. 
1759-1808. 

Born at East Ruston, in Norfolk, the son of the 
parish clerk, and educated at Eton and Cambridge, 



English Literature. 



117 



where lie obtained great renown, and became Professor 
of Greek. He afterwards filled the office of librarian to 
the London Institution. At college he was noted for 
his drinking habits. He was possessed of a large fund 
of humour and an astonishing memory. 

CRITICAL NOTES TO VARIOUS GREEK POETS. 
ADVERSARIA. 

TRACTS AND MISCELLANIES. 

The two latter were published after his death. His 
works display the most careful critical judgment and 
profound learning. 



RICHARD WATSON, 
1737-1816, 

Bishop of Llandaff, and one of the great divines that 
adorned the latter half of the eighteenth century. 
He wrote some works noted for their liberal views of 
both Church and State. 

AN APOLOGY FOR CHRISTIANITY. 
AN APOLOGY FOR THE BIBLE. 
SERMONS, &c. 

The first was written in defence of religion, from the 
sneers and scoffs contained in Gibbon's " Decline and Fall 
of the Roman Empire." The latter is a refutation of the 
atheistic doctrines of Thomas Paine. 



THOMAS BROWN. 
1778-1820. 

Born in Galloway, and educated for the profession of 
medicine. For some time he practised as a physician ; 
but, finding the study of ethics more congenial to his 
taste, he gave up medicine and accepted the Professor- 



Handbook of 



ship of Moral Philosophy at Edinburgh, vacant by the 
resignation of Dugald Stewart. 

LECTURES ON MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

These, his chief productions, are clearly written, with 
force and even elegance. 



DAVID BICAKDO. 
1772-1823. 

Born in London, the son of a Dutch Jew, he became 
a thriving and busy stock-broker. He entered Parlia- 
ment, and saw several sessions of parliamentary life. 
He devoted himself entirely to questions of political 
economy. 

THE HIGH PRICE OF BULLION; 

THE PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY AND TAXATION, 

are his best and chief writings, the latter ranking next 
to Adam Smith's " Wealth of Nations" in its im- 
portance and argument. 



JOHN PINKERTON. 
1758-1826. 

Born at Edinburgh. He was intended for the Bar; 
but in 1780 forsook the study of the law for literature. 

MODERN GEOGRAPHY ON A NEW PLAN. 
HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. 

GENERAL COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 

Pinkerton is possessed of all the prejudices, untiring 
devotion, and enthusiasm that distinguishes the histori- 
cal antiquary. His writings, while they throw light 
upon some of the obscurer portions of Scottish history, 
are marred by an attempt at fine writing, which is not 
only a failure, but out of place. 



English Literature. 



119 



DUGALD STEWAET. 
1753-1828. 

Born in Edinburgh, he attained, in 1780 — when only 
twenty- seven years old — to the Professorship of Moral 
Philosophy in that University where he had received 
his education. 

PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN MIND. 

THE PROGRESS OF METAPHYSICAL AND ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY. 
OUTLINES OF MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Perhaps the greatest exponent of what has been 
termed the " Scotch or common- sense school " of meta- 
physical writings. 

Though, by his own confession, they leave a true and 
complete philosophy still in expectation, they have been 
" received with the highest marks of public approbation, 
on account of the singular elegance of their composition, 
and the cheerful, benevolent, and elevating views of 
human nature, and the progress of man as a social being, 
which they present.' ' 



WILLIAM HAZLITT. 

1778-1830. 

Born at Maidstone ; went at the age of nine to a day- 
school at Wem, in Shropshire, where his father, a 
Presbyterian minister, then resided ; in 1793 entered 
as a student of the Unitarian College at Hackney, but, 
disliking the ministry, turned artist, and visited Paris 
to study the pictures in the Louvre ; for some time 
acted as a reporter to the Morning Chronicle ; and, in 
the latter part of his life, contributed to the " Edinburgh 
Review." His life was a scene of continued literary 
labour, but his improvidence kept him in poverty. He 
died in London of cholera. 



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PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN ACTION. 
CHARACTERS OF SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. 
TABLE TALK. 

LECTURES UPON THE ENGLISH POETS. 
LIFE OF NAPOLEON. 

Besides the above, Hazlitt contributed a large num- 
ber of articles, essays, reviews, and critiques to various 
periodical works. 

The "Lectures on English. Poetry" manifest great 
extravagance in their opinions and criticism ; they are, 
however, written in the most brilliant style, and display 
thought and research. To them may be traced, in a 
great degree, the taste of the present day for the early 
writers of our English Literature. 

His last work is considered to be the best, as it was 
his most elaborate work. As a critic Hazlitt was 
brilliant and refined, and all his works display terse- 
ness and vivacity of style, with strength of character, 
and knowledge of human nature. 



HENRY MACKENZIE. 
1745-1831. 

Born and educated in Edinburgh. He was a lawyer 
by profession, for some time the Comptroller of Taxes 
for Scotland. 

THE MAN OF FEELING. 
THE MAN OF THE WORLD. 

These two novels, of which the latter is much the 
inferior, are modelled upon Sterne, though the dis- 
ciple is better than the master, possessing more pathos 
and true feeling than Sterne. The first one represents 
a man who is too tender-hearted to do battle in this 
rough world; the second aims at exhibiting a person who, 
rushing headlong into guilt and ruin, spreads misery all 
around him, by the pursuit of selfish and sensual plea- 
sures. 



English Literature. 



121 



WILLIAM KOSCOE, 
1753-1831, 

Was an attorney and banker of Liverpool, his native 
town ; lie afterwards represented it in Parliament for 
some time. The failure of the bank in which he was 
partner plunged him in difficulties. In 1796 he pub- 
lished, in two volumes, — 

LIFE OF LORENZO DE MEDICI; 

THE LIFE AND PONTIFICATE OF LEO X. 

The latter, published nine years after the former, is by 
far the better work of the two, but was, nevertheless, 
received with less favour than was its predecessor. The 
chief fault of the work lies in the exceeding minuteness 
with which all events, whether of importance or not, are 
described. 



JEEEMY BENTHAM. 
1748-1832. 

Born in London, the son of a solicitor, he was brought 
up with a view of becoming a barrister ; but, revolting 
at the abuse of right which, in the course of his studies, 
he saw took place daily, he turned to literature instead. 

FRAGMENT OF GOVERNMENT. 
A DEFENCE OF USURY. 

THEORY OF PUNISHMENTS AND REWARDS. 
BOOK OF POLITICAL FALLACIES. 
A CONSTITUTIONAL CODE. 

From the very first he inculcates and pushes almost 
to an extreme the doctrine that the chief aim of 
government ought to be the "greatest good of the 
greatest number," and that in legislation and in 
morality no other rule but utility is to be allowed. 
Hence the phrase " Utilitarian," which has been applied 
to his peculiar writings and tenets. Although a pro- 
found thinker, Mr. Bentham did not possess the art of 
writing in an easily intelligible manner : " he bewilders 



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his readers by minute methodical subdivisions, and 
newly-compounded words, designed to convey ideas 
with more than usual clearness." 



SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. 
1765-1832. 

Born at Aldourie House, on the banks of Loch Ness, 
He was called to the Bar in 1795, and, after winning 
considerable renown by his legal attainments, he was 
appointed Recorder of Bombay, which position he held 
for seven years, when he retired on a pension of £1,200. 

Though he had but little time to devote to author- 
ship, he produced some works which will remain for 
ever as a specimen of what he might have done. 

DISSERTATION ON ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY (Encyclopaedia Britannica}. 
SKETCH OF HISTORY OF ENGLAND (Lardner's Encyclopaedia). 

His " Sketch of English History" is less a detailed 
narrative of events, than a rapid, yet clear, profound, and 
philosophic view of the state and progress of society, 
law, government, and civilization ; in which the lessons 
of experience, the character of men and events, the 
circumstances which have promoted, retarded, and 
modified the social and political improvement of the 
English nation, are unfolded and judged with the 
acuteness of a philosopher, and the wisdom of a prac- 
tical statesman. His style, though sometimes clumsy 
and inelegant, often rises to eloquence when he records 
the growth of liberty, or the influence of generous 
institutions. 



SIR WALTER SCOTT. 
1771-1832. 

Sir Walter Scott was born at Edinburgh, where his 
father followed the profession of a lawyer, being a 
writer to the Signet. He belonged through his father 
to the ancient clan or border family of Scott, of which 



English Literature. 



123 



the chieftain was the Duke of Buccleugh. Educated 
first at the High School, and afterwards at the Univer- 
sity of his native town, he commenced at the age of 
nineteen to study for the law, having chosen to be 
called to the Bar in preference to following his father's 
profession. In 1792 he began to practise as an 
advocate, with fair prospects of professional success. 
But nature was too strong for him : literature engrossed 
more of his time and thoughts. In 1797 he had 
married Charlotte Carpenter r and settled at Lasswade, 
on the Esk. Foreseeing that he would not succeed at 
the Bar, he obtained, in 1799, the appointment of 
Sheriff of Selkirkshire, to which, in 1806, was added a 
clerkship in the Court of Session, with a salary of 
£1,300 a year. Both these appointments, which 
involved magisterial and official duties of a rather 
burdensome nature — always most punctually and con- 
scientiously discharged — Scott held till within a year 
before his death. 

In 1804 Scott removed to Ashestiel, a house over- 
looking the Tweed, near Selkirk, for the more con- 
venient discharge of his magisterial duties. In 1812 
he removed to Abbotsford, where he had been enabled, 
by the success of his literary labour, to erect a 
charming, incongruous, half-castle sort of residence, 
which has been called " a Gothic romance embedded in 
stone and mortar." About 1805, Scott had become a 
partner in the printing firm of Ballantyne & Co., and later 
on he joined the bookselling business of his old friend 
Arthur Constable. In 1826 occurred the money panic, 
which caused the failure of both these houses, and not 
only swept away the whole of Scott's fortune, but 
burdened him with a debt of £117,000. Nobly refusing 
to permit his creditors — or rather the creditors of the 
firm to which he belonged — to suffer any loss that he 
could help, he devoted his life and his pen to the 
herculean task of removing this mountain- debt. One 
of the richest bankers of England sent Sir Yf alter a 
blank cheque, signed ; but the author thanked him for 



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his generous intention, and engaged, in time, to pay all 
that he owed, with interest. With this object in view, 
he laboured with his pen yet harder than he had ever 
done, and every day saw the completion of what was 
equal to thirty pages of print. Such toil as this, coupled 
with the death of his beloved wife, soon told upon both 
mind and body. In 1830 he was struck with paralysis, 
from the effects of which he never recovered. Fits of 
apoplexy and paralysis occurred at intervals during 
that and the following year ; and, as a last hope, he 
sailed, in the autumn of 1831, for Malta and Italy. He 
lived at Naples and at Rome for about six months ; 
and, had he entirely ceased his labours^ the sad end, of 
which the beginning had already come, might have 
been deferred. He would work, and the consequence 
was that he derived little benefit from the trip. On his 
way home down the Rhine, the mortal blow was struck, 
and, though he was enabled to return to Abbotsford, 
he died shortly afterwards, on the afternoon of a 
calm September day, in the midst of his loving 
family and sorrowing friends. In person Sir Walter 
Scott was slightly deformed ; in character he was all 
that was generous, upright, and noble. His mode of 
life was exceedingly pure and simple. In 1812 the 
Prince Regent offered him the Poet-Laureateship, which 
he refused. He was created a baronet as a mark of 
honour for his eminent abilities. 

THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. 
LIFE OF NAPOLEON. 
LIFE OF DRYDEN. 
LIFE OF SWIFT. 

LIVES OF THE BRITISH NOVELISTS. 
PAPERS IN THE REVIEWS. 
DEMONOLOGY AND WITCHCRAFT. 

The greater number of the "Waverley Novels,'* as 
the entire collection of novels of Scott is termed, were 
published anonymously. The first one excited the 
greatest curiosity. It gave evidence of all that 
extensive knowledge of the manners, customs, and 



English Literature. 



125 



legends of Scotland, which was still further displayed 
in his later works. 

The tales are twenty-nine in number, and are 
remarkable for the beauty of the descriptions, the 
truth of the characters, the naturalness and vivacity of 
the dialogues, and the delicate manner in which they 
delineate the passion of love, so shamefully abused by 
many novelists. 

" The graphic force with which he brought both his- 
torical and imaginary beings before the mind of the 
reader ; the singular interest which he gave to the pro- 
ceedings and relations of these persons ; the humour, 
the pathos, the fine spirit of benevolence which per- 
vaded every page, had, long ere the last of these works 
was published, raised their unknown author to a repu- 
tation not only exceeding that of Fielding, Smollett, 
and all the great masters of prose fiction, but equalling 
the reverence which ages had accumulated for the first 
names in English literature." 

It was not till 1827 that the authorship of them was 
avowed, although it had been guessed some time before. 
The success and favour with which they were received 
is shown in the fact that "Woodstock," the first novel 
after his misfortunes, sold for £8,228. 

The "Life of Napoleon," although it was sold, it is said, 
for £12,000, is inferior as a literary production. It is, 
however, received with greater favour now than for- 
merly. It is in nine bulky volumes, and modelled on 
Southey's "Life of Nelson." 

The "Lives of the Novelists," written first as prefaces 
to an edition of their works, and afterwards published 
separately, are pieces of animated writing, and superior 
to the " Life of Napoleon." 

" Scott was eminently a painter in words. The pic- 
turesque was his forte. Witness the magnificent de- 
scriptions of natural scenery — sunsets, stormy sea, deep 
woodland glades — with which many of his chapters 
open. But his portraitures surpass his landscapes. For 
variety and true painting of character he was uncloubt- 



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edly the Shakspeare of our English prose. What a 
crowd of names, i familiar as household words,' come 
rushing on the mind, as we think of the gallery of 
portraits his magical pencil has left for our endless 
delight and study ! " 



WILLIAM COBBETT. 

1762-1835. 

Born at Farnham, in Surrey, where he spent his early 
years as a farm-labourer. He afterwards left the 
plough, and entered the army as a common soldier. He 
went with his regiment to the United States, where he 
remained till 1791, when he received his discharge as 
sergeant. After residing some little time in Paris, he 
returned to Philadelphia, and set up as a bookseller. 
Having been punished by the government of the 
United States for some severe strictures on the French 
influence then predominant, he left America, and re- 
turned to England, where he again got into trouble 
with his writings, and was fined £1,000 and imprisoned. 
Thus involved in political and pecuniary embarrassment, 
he again went to the United States, and took up his 
abode in some quiet spot to escape his creditors. After 
a twelvemonth's voluntary exile he returned once more 
to England, and took a prominent and effective part in 
public efforts for the promotion of civil liberty. He 
also occupied himself greatly with agriculture, and 
specially endeavoured to promote the cultivation of 
maize. On the passing of the Reform Act he was 
returned as member of Parliament for Oldham. He 
failed, however, as a public speaker, and his influence 
in the House was veiy small. 

RURAL RIDES. 

COTTAGE ECONOMY. 

HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 

WORKS ON AMERICA. 

ARTICLES IN THE "^PORCUPINE," AND M POLITICAL 

REGISTER." 
TREATISE ON COBBETT'S CORN. 
ENGLISH GRAMMAR. 



English Literature. 



127 



These are his chief literary works. The works of 
" Peter Porcupine," first published in Philadelphia, drew 
down upon him the wrath of the United States govern- 
ment, and his essays in the "Political Register," pub- 
lished in London, led to his punishment here. The latter 
was published weekly, and is a valuable appendage to the 
history of the times. It contains much good and effective 
writing, and its style is remarkably pure and clear. 
The treatise was written in order to forward the cul- 
tivation of maize in England, and its title-page was of 
paper made from the stalks of his favourite plant. 

All his works have an especial value, as illustrating 
" a fine type of the English peasant mind." 



MADAME DARBLAY (Frances Burney), 
1752-1840, 



The second daughter of Dr. Burney, organist of 
Chelsea College, was born at Lynn, in Norfolk. While 
on a visit to Queen Charlotte, at Windsor, she was 
appointed second keeper of the robes, with a salary, 
servants, and apartments. She held the office for five 
years, when she resigned, in consequence of ill-health ; 
and shortly afterwards, in 1793, married Count D'Ar- 
blay, a French refugee officer. In 1802, she accom- 
panied her husband to France, where they remained 
for some considerable period. In 1812 she returned to 
England, and died at Bath, at the advanced age of 
eighty- eight years. 

EVELINA. 
CECILIA. 

Camilla; 

the wanderer. 

memoirs of her father. 

The first of these works is said to have been written 
when she was but fifteen years old, though it was not 
published till she was twenty-five. It relates the ex- 
perience and sensations of a young lady on her entrance 



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Handbook of 



into the world, in the fashionable sense of the term. It 
was published anonymously, but became so popular 
that her name was disclosed by her father to Johnson, 
with Tvhom she became a great favourite. 

"Cecilia" is a more finished production; but is 
neither so amusing, nor so full of situations and good 
points as the first production of her pen. 

Both " Camilla" and " The Wanderer" are tedious 
and dull tales, each in five volumes. 



JOHN FOSTER. 
1770-1843. 

The son of a farmer, and born near Halifax in York- 
shire : at an early age he attracted the notice of the late 
Dr. Eawcett, Baptist minister, of Hebden Bridge, near 
Halifax, in Yorkshire, by whose influence he was 
entered a student of the Baptist College, Bristol. He 
afterwards became a minister of that sect at Downend, 
near Bristol. In the quiet of his study he produced 
some of the most remarkable productions of the age. 
He relinquished the duties of a minister, and devoted 
himself to literature. 

ARTICLES IN THE " ECLECTIC REVIEW 
ESSAYS IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO A FRIEND. 
EVILS OF POPULAR IGNORANCE. 

The essays are : — On a Man's Writing Memoirs of 
Himself; On Decision of Character; On the Epithet 
Romantic ; On Evangelical Religion rendered less ac- 
ceptable to Persons of Taste. They are written in a 
plain strong style, and their reasoning is most profound. 
The keen insight which they display into the workings 
of the human heart and understanding, will always 
place them among the foremost in the list of ethical 
works. The " Evils of Popular Ignorance," is rather a 
heavy work. Foster's intellect was of the highest order ; 
his mind was well furnished, well cultivated, logical, 
and powerful ; and his style possesses both elegance and 
strength. 



English Literature. 



129 



ROBEBT SOUTHEY. 
1774-1843. 

Born at Bristol, the son of a linendraper, and edu- 
cated at Westminster School and Balliol College, Oxford, 
which he left in rather an abrupt manner, in 1794. He 
then studied law at Gray's Inn, and made a couple of 
visits to Lisbon, where his uncle was chaplain of the 
British factory. The last forty years of his life were 
spent at Greta Hall, near Keswick, Cumberland. Lat- 
terly he was without reason, in consequence of a stroke 
of paralysis. Though a poet of striking worth, South ey 
was a remarkable writer of English prose. Like John- 
son, he lived from "hand to mouth," until a pension 
placed him above the fear of want ; but he could not 
then give up the habits of incessant study and literary 
toil, which had grown to be his second nature. He was 
never so happy as when he sat amid his books, pen in 
hand, adding newly-written sheets to the pile of manu- 
script already lying in his copy- drawer. 

LIFE OF NELSON. 
HISTORY OF BRAZIL. 

LIVES OF WESLEY, CHATTERTON, KIRKE WHITE, AND 
COWPER. 

HISTORY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR. 
COLLOQUIES IN SOCIETY. 
THE DOCTOR. 

All these works are models of clear, polished, un- 
strained and elegant writing : "a language flowed from 
his practised pen which few English writers have sur- 
passed." 



SYDNEY SMITH. 
17G8-1845. 

Born at Woodford, in Essex ; educated first at Win- 
chester School, and afterwards at New College, Oxford, 
where he was elected a Eellow in 1790. His first 

K 



130 Handbook of English Literature. 



appointment as a clergyman was the curacy of Nether 
Avon, on Salisbury Plain. He afterwards became tutor 
to the son of Mr. Beach, M.P. for Cirencester, and 
resided with his pupil for five years at Edinburgh. In 
1803 he removed to London, where he principally 
resided until his death, and became a popular preacher, 
and lecturer on polite literature. He was intimate with 
all the most eminent men of the day, with Brougham, 
Jeffrey, and others of Whig principles, and was distin- 
guished for his wit and conversational powers. He 
afterwards held the livings of Foston, in Yorkshire, 
and Combe-Florey, in Somersetshire ; and was one of 
the canons-residentiary of St. Paul's, 

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE " EDINBURGH REVIEW." 

LETTERS ON THE SUBJECT OF THE CATHOLICS TO MY BROTHER 

ABRAHAM, BY PETER PLYMLEY. 
LECTURES ON MORAL PHILOSOPHY. 
TRACTS. 

These, with sermons and occasional letters on 
various subjects, are the works which came from his 
pen. The first number of the " Edinburgh Review" 
was edited by Smith, who, in conjunction with his 
friends Brougham and Jeffrey, originated it. The 
" Letters on the Catholics " are perhaps the finest 
example of the use of wit and satire, as a political 
weapon, that is to be found in our language. Sydney 
Smith's style is clear, forcible, humorous, and satirical. 



DRAMATIC WRITERS. 



DRAMATIC WRITERS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Dramatic representation in England appears to be 
founded on what were termed "Miracle Plays," the first 
of which, in Latin, by Hilarius, an English ' monk, was 
written in the beginning of the twelfth century. These 
" Miracle Plays " were legendary representations of saints 
and martyrs, founded on the Old and New Testament 
histories. At a later date we find that they were per- 
formed regularly in all the large towns at Whitsuntide, 
especially at Chester, and hence are termed Chester 
Mysteries, and Whitsun Plays. Their literary impor- 
tance was never very great, although traces of similar 
exhibitions are discoverable in almost every part of 
Europe. These miracle plays in their turn were 
succeeded by the "Moralities," or Modern Plays, more 
fitted for public representation than the " Mysteries," 
which were but mere parodies upon sacred history. 
The " Moral Plays " date back to the time of Henry VI. 
They contained personages representing Mercy, Justice, 
and Truth, and showed a great advance, inasmuch 
that they endeavoured to convey moral lessons with 
some dramatic ingenuity. The early plays were repre- 
sented in moveable theatres, chiefly by monks, school 
boys, and members of the various trading corpora- 
tions. 

The following extract gives us some insight into the 



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mode of proceeding. It relates to the performance of 
one of the Mysteries at Coventry : — 

" Before the suppression of the monasteries, this 
cittye was very famous for the pageants that were 
played therein, upon Corpus Christ! day. These 
pageants were acted with mighty state and reverence 
by the fryers of this house (the Franciscan monastery 
at Coventry), and conteyned the story of the New 
Testament, which was composed into old English rime. 
The theatres for the sever all scenes were very large and 
high ; and, being placed upon wheeles, were drawn to 
all the eminent places of the cittye, for the better 
advantage of the spectators." 

The "Moral Plays " kept possession of the public appre- 
ciation some considerable time, partly because of their 
improved style, and partly because the writers began to 
introduce popular opinions and historical and current 
events, and personages in an allegorical and abstract 
guise. " It was soon manifest that a real human being, 
with a human name, was better calculated to awaken 
the sympathies, and keep alive the attention of an 
audience, and not less so to impress them with moral 
truths, than a being who only represented a notion of 
the mind." The substitution of these for the symbolical 
characters gradually took place during the earlier part 
of the sixteenth century, and, aided by the general 
revival of learning, dramatic representation gradually 
assumed the form with which we are acquainted. 

The characteristic qualities of the productions do 
not, however, afford much scope for literary speculation 
or critical remark. They are more interesting as 
antiquarian curiosities than important as literary and 
historical productions. 

The period intervening between the "Moral Plays" 
and the Early English Drama, properly so called, may 
be rilled up with the " Interludes " of John Hey wood, the 
earliest of which must have been written before A.J). 
1521, exhibiting a state of transition to the regular 
English comedy and tragedy. 



English Literature. 



135 



Heywood was partly a musician, partly ar professed 
wit, and partly a writer of plays. His dramatic com- 
positions generally represented some ludicrous familiar 
incident, in a style of the broadest and coarsest farce, 
with, great skill and talent. One, called " The Four P's.," 
turns upon a dispute between a Palmer, a Pardoner, 
a Poticary, and a Pedlar (who are the only characters), 
as to which shall tell the grossest falsehood. An acci- 
dental assertion of the Palmer, that he never saw a 
woman out of patience in his life, takes the rest off 
their guard, all of whom declare it to be the greatest 
lie they ever heard ; and the settlement of the question 
is thus brought about amidst much drollery. One of 
Heywood's chief objects seems to have been to satirize 
the manners of the clergy, and aid in the cause of the 
Reformers. 

Heywood was succeeded by Nicholas Udall, an 
eminent scholar, and Master of Westminster School, in 
an imitation of Plautus and Terence, entitled " Ralph 
Roister Doister," supposed to have been written in the 
reign of Henry VIII. The scene is laid in London, 
and the characters, thirteen in number, exhibit the 
manners of the middle orders of the people of that day. 
It is divided into five acts, and the plot is amusing and 
well constructed. 

English comedy proper first appears in the production 
of John Still (subsequently Bishop of Bath and Wells), 
entitled " Gammer Gurton's Needle," first enacted in 
Christ's Church, Cambridge, in 1575. 

The first regular tragedy was performed by the 
gentlemen of the Temple in 1567, and written by T. 
Sackville, afterwards Lord Buckhurst, and Thomas 
Norton, a Puritan lawyer. Its title was " Gorboduc ; or, 
Ferrex and Porrex." It is the first English drama of 
any kind written in blank verse. The subject is taken 
from the fabulous British annals, originally compiled 
by Geoffrey of Monmouth in the twelfth century, and is 
full of desperate scenes and broils. 

The earliest English authors of tragedy and comedy 



136 



Handbook of 



are conspicuous for works of considerable merit, and 
without admixture. Both are distinctive in their class 
and character. Within a month the success which 
attended the production of the first English tragedy, a 
historical play under the title of " Julius Ca?sar," was so 
great that it was enacted at court — forming the earliest 
instance on record, according to Collier, in which 
events from " Roman History" were dramatized in 
English. 

Erom the year 1562, commenced the second stage of 
the English drama. Many plays of no importance, 
save to mark the transition of style, had been produced 
by Richard Edwards about 1566, by George Whetstone 
in 1578, and Silly in 1579, who wrote plays on mytholo- 
gical subjects. We have, however, no dramatic work 
which, apart from its antiquity, possesses any interest 
to succeeding ages. Ten years afterwards, dramatic 
literature expeiienced a vast change, and became a 
recognized branch of literature. 

It should be remembered that nearly all the early 
dramatic writers were University men, and men of even 
scholarly attainments, and that a man of letters and 
wit had a much greater chance of succeeding at that 
time as a dramatist than as a bookwriter. It was the 
only way in which he could bring his works before the 
public. There was no reading public then large enough 
to support authors who had not some independent in- 
come, or were not patronized by the court. Greene, 
Marlowe, Peele, were all young men together, and all 
writing for the stage, and to them presently were added 
the other and greater genius of Shakspeare. It was 
undoubtedly to dramatic literature that the literature of 
the Elizabethan age owed its strength. The dramatic 
form of composition rose at this period with sudden and 
wonderful brilliancy, and, attracting all the best existing 
wits, left comparatively little genius to be expended upon 
the ordinary kinds of poetry and prose. 

The extraordinary and sudden stride forward, by 
which the drama reached the mighty and magnificent 



English Literature. 



137 



conceptions of Shakspeare, placed it in a position that 
could never be assailed. It must not, however, be sup- 
posed that the theatres in which the representation of 
these conceptions took place were also progressing in 
proportion. The following picture of the stage arrange- 
ments is taken from Mr. Collier : — 

" To form a true idea of the stage on which the Eliza- 
bethan plays were acted, we must carry our recollec- 
tion back to those yellow-painted wooden caravans, that 
travel round the country fairs, and supply the delighted 
rustics, in exchange for their pennies, with a tragedy 
full of ghosts and murder, and thrilling with single 
combats between valiant warriors in tin armour, who 
fight with broadswords made of old iron hoops. The 
travelling stage was often set up in the court-yard of 
an inn. A wooden erection — little better than what we 
call a shed — there sheltered the company and their 
audience. When in 1576 the first licensed theatre was 
opened at Blackfriars, in London, it was merely a round 
wooden wall or building, enclosing a space open to the 
sky. The stage, indeed, was covered with a roof of 
thatch ; but upon the greater part of the house — as in 
modern days we call the spectators — the sun shone and 
the rain fell without let or hindrance. 

" The rude attempts at scenery, in such theatres as 
the Rose and the Globe, which were among the leading 
houses, make us smile, who have witnessed the gorgeous 
scenic triumphs of Kean and his brother managers. 
Some faded tapestry, or poorly-daubed canvas, hung 
round the timbers of the stage, at the back of which 
ran a gallery- — eight or ten feet high — to hold those 
actors who might be supposed to speak from castle- 
walls, windows, high rocks, or other lofty places. A 
change of scene was denoted by hanging out, in view of 
the spectators, a placard with the name of the place — 
Padua, Athens, or Paris — painted on it. A further 
stretch of imagination was required from the assembly, 
when the removal of a dingy throne, and the setting 
down of a rough table with drinking vessels, were sup- 



Handbook of 



posed to turn a palace into a tavern ; or the exchange 
of a pasteboard rock for a thorn- branch was expected 
to delude all into the belief that they saw no longer 
a pebbly shore, but a leafy forest. An exquisitely 
comical illustration of this scenic poverty may be found 
in e Midsummer Night's Dream,' where the Athenian 
tradesmen rehearse a play, and act it before Duke 
Theseus. Funny as it seems, the picture was drawn 
from the realities of the author's day. The play of 
' Pyramus and Thisbe 5 requires the introduction of a 
wall upon the stage, that the lovers may whisper their 
vows through a chink in its masonry. So Snout, the 
tinker, is daubed with plaster, and, coming on the stage, 
announces to the audience that he is to be considered 
the wall, and, for a chink, he forms a circle with thumb 
and fingers, through which the appointment to meet at 
Ninny'' s tomb is made by the ardent lovers. Then in 
comes one, with a lantern, a thorn-bush and a dog, who 
calls himself the Irian in the Moon, and proceeds to light 
the midnight scene. An unbelieving critic, who sits 
among the onlookers, suggests that the man, the bush, 
and the dog, should get into the lantern, since the ap- 
pearance of the Man in the Moon, carrying the moon in 
which he lived, was likely to cause some confusion of 
ideas. The notion of wall and moonshine announcing 
their respective characters to the audience, is, no doubt, 
a bit of Shakspeare's native humour ; but every day that 
our great dramatist acted in the Globe, he saw as sorry 
makeshifts for scenery as the lime-daubed tinker who 
acted the wall, and the dim tallow- candle, in sore need 
of snuffing, that sputtered in the lantern of Moonshine. 

" At one o'clock — on Sundays especially, but also on 
other days — the play-house flag was hoisted on the roof, 
announcing that the performance was going to begin ; 
and there it fluttered till the play was over. Placards 
had already told the public what was to be the per- 
formance of the day. The audience consisted of two 
classes : the groundlings, or lower orders, who paid a 
trifle for admission to the pit; and the gallants, who 



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paid sixpence a piece for stools upon the rush- strewn 
stage, where they sat in two rows, smoking and 
showing off their ruffs and doublets, while the actors 
played between them. The circle of the pit resounded 
with oaths and quarrelling, mingled with the clatter of 
ale-pots and the noise of card-playing. Nor did the 
occupants of the full-dress stools show better breeding 
than the unwashed groundlings. Noise, tobacco-smoke, 
and the heavy fumes of ale, formed the main parts 
of the atmosphere in which our noblest plays were 
ushered into fame. When the trumpets had sounded, 
a figure in a long black velvet cloak came forward to 
recite the prologue. Then the play began ; and, if its 
early scenes did not suit the taste of the audience, 
a storm of noises arose ; hisses, yells, cat-calls, cock- 
crowing, whistling, drowned the actors' voices, and 
stopped the progress of the play. In short, Elizabeth's 
loyal subjects used or abused their lungs just as 
vigorous] y as those of Queen Victoria can do in 
parliament, and out of it as well. The actors — attired 
in the costume of their own day — played in masks and 
wigs ; and the female parts — the Violas, the Portias, 
the Hosalinds — were filled by boys, or smooth-faced 
young men, in women's dress. All was over by three 
or four o'clock, and then the audience went home to an 
early supper." 

It often happened that the play- writer, as in the case 
of Shakspeare, was a play-actor as well; but, with all their 
knowledge, and University learning, we do not find that 
the players took a very high social position. The 
biographies of most of them speak plainly as to their 
mode of life. Whether it was from the loose habits 
engendered and fostered by their profession, or that the 
nobles and courtiers looked upon them as servants, but 
little removed from the jester, who still kept his place 
at the tables of the great ; whatever it was, the social 
rank of the play-actor was a low one. It may be attri- 
buted also to the fact that they led such reckless im- 
provident lives that the stage did fall into a condition 



140 Handbook of 



of almost shameless licentiousness. This it was that 
shocked the Puritans, moved the " good men of every 
party," and led to the closing of the theatres in 1648. 

It has been well said, that, at the close of the reign of 
Charles the First, " the drama sank with the party that 
chiefly supported it," and supported it more, perhaps, 
because of the abhorrence of it which the Puritan felt 
and manifested. 

In 1660, on the Restoration, it arose from the ob- 
scurity that had covered it, and appeared in a form 
distinct and different from that which had before cha- 
racterized it. While it arose with fresh lustre, it can 
hardly be said to have become more decent. During 
the latter part of the Commonwealth, Davenant had 
been permitted to write and act plays, and at the 
accession of Charles, two principal playhouses offered 
their attractions to the public support. One was under 
the patronage of the king ; the other was under the 
patronage of the Duke of York. The players at the 
first were called the king's servants. 

A considerable improvement took place in the stage 
and house arrangements ; female players were employed, 
and moveable scenes were introduced. During the ten 
years that followed the Restoration, the favourite trage- 
dies were of a kind called heroic or rhyming plays, for 
which the taste and the model had been brought to- 
gether from France by the returning Court. " They 
referred solely to very elevated historical characters, and 
were written in an inflated metaphysical style, as if in- 
tended to represent a superior sort of human nature ; 
and all the lines terminated in rhyme." The comedies, 
however, were full of the most licentious passages. 
Unfortunately, the Court set an example of such im- 
morality, that the greatest countenance was lent to all 
manner of debauchery and indecency. Looseness of 
manners became almost a test of loyalty; and, such 
being the case, the theatres where the grossest scenes 
were enacted were the best patronized, and the licence, 
which had been curbed somewhat before, was resumed 



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to its fullest extent at the Restoration. The king soon 
showed that he had a passion for the drama, especially 
of the Spanish comedies, which abound in profligacy, 
intrigue, and lewdness. The managers and actors, there- 
fore, in order to secure his approbation, modelled their 
writings and actions to suit his taste. 

It is further on that we must look for the establish- 
ment of the steady old drama, which has now got to be 
called legitimate, where the action is divided into four 
or five parts, with a superior and inferior plot, and 
dependent upon the worth of the writing rather than to 
the acting or machinery. The immorality of the age of 
the Restoration could not and did not last long ; it was 
succeeded by an age when at least truth and morality 
were recognized, if not very generally practised. 

Accordingly, though the comedies which were pro- 
duced between 1690 and 1730 were not marked by 
a very high literary excellence or great imagination, 
they are undeniably more pure and moral. A more 
manly and vigorous tone set in, and though a season 
of bombastic utterances and sentimentalism followed, 
consequent upon the French influence, yet the drama, in 
its two great branches, kept steadily progressing. Two 
new forms of it were engendered, the Farce and the 
Genteel Comedy ; that is, a comedy in which the cha- 
racters are taken from the higher ranks of society, 
and partaking of a highly moral and sentimental cha- 
racter. The next age saw the rise of the Melodrama, 
in which the delineation of the play is helped and 
assisted by the splendour of the dresses and the 
scenery. 

" It is the common opinion," says Mr. Chambers, 
" that the literature has declined in our times ; and no 
one can deny that there are not now engaged in it the 
same superior intellects which gave it such lustre in 
the days of Elizabeth, or even in those of Queen Anne. 
For this, however, the chief reason is, perhaps, one of 
an accidental nature. Successful writing for the stage 
seems to require a close connection with the theatre 



142 Handbook of 



itself, in order that the author may be able to adapt the 
* language, characters, and general structure of the piece 
to those circumstances, known only to actors, which 
tend to make dramatic representation effectual. Hence 
it is found that the greatest dramatists of former times 
were either themselves players, or maintained a close 
acquaintance with the theatre. A wide space, however, 
has been drawn between the literary men of the present 
day and the actors. Our greatest poets, disdaining to 
subject their genius to a schooling from the performers, 
or to bend to considerations of theatrical convenience, 
have either abstained from dramatic composition or 
written only what they term dramatic poems ; that is, 
poems in a dramatic form, but not designed for repre- 
sentation. In the stead of better writers, there has 
arisen a class, consisting partly of actors and managers, 
who, without the genius of the kindred class of men 
who flourished in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., 
display the same readiness and skill, and, in some 
instances, no inconsiderable share of ability, in serving 
the theatres with pieces calculated to affect or entertain 
common audiences." 



110 BEET GREENE. 
1560-1592. 

Born at Norwich, and educated at St. John's College, 
Cambridge, at which University he took his M. A. degree 
in 1583. He was also incorporated with Oxford. His after 
life was spent amid scenes of dissipation, and, unable to 
make his own private fortune meet the wants of his ; 
extravagance, he had recourse to his pen. He was 
possessed of a fund of wit and humour, but used it 
for the purpose of vice and obscenity. As a prose 
writer he has already been alluded to. As a dramatic 
writer Greene ranks next to Marlowe. 

ORLANDO FURIOSO. 

FRIAR BACON AND FRIAR BUNGAY. 

THE PINNER OF WAKEFIELD. 

A LOOKING-GLASS FOR LONDON AND ENGLAND. 



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143 



The above are the principal of his plays, and, though 
they are Written in a bombastic and extravagant style, 
they yet contain many passages of genuine poetry. 
The last-mentioned play is the most dramatic, though 
" Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay" is Greene's best 
comedy. It is about the last play written in which the 
devil was introduced in propria persona. 



CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. 
1563-1593. 

Born at Canterbury, the supposed son of a shoemaker. 
Entered Bennett College, Cambridge, where he took 
his degree in 1583. He came to an untimely end in 
a duel which arose out of a tavern broil. 

TAMBOURLAINE THE GREAT. 
FAUSTUS. 

THE JEW OF MALTA. 

DIDO, QUEEN OF CARTHAGE. 

EDWARD II. 

His second play of "Faustus"is rich in dramatic 
excellence, but still more so is his "Edward II.," which 
is greatly superior to any he produced. It is the first 
English historical play, and contains ably drawn cha- 
racters and splendid scenes. 

Marlowe writes with great force and freedom ; but he 
is nevertheless bombastic, and often displays a want of 
taste. 



GEORGE PEELE. 
1553-1599. 

Born in Devonshire, and educated at Christ Church . 
Oxford, where he obtained the degree of M.A. in 
1579. He subsequently removed to London, where he 
held the post of Superintendent of Pageants. He long 
maintained the poetical character for which he was 



144 



Handbook of 



conspicuous at the University. Peele died, after leading 
an irregular life, in extreme poverty. 

THE ARRAIGNMENT OF PARIS. 
EDWARD I. 

TWO OLD WIVES' TALES. 
THE FAIR BATHSHEBA. 

" Edward I. " and " The Fair Bathsheba " are the best 
of his productions. The former is rather heavy and 
monotonous in its style ; and in the latter we can detect 
most delicate poetical imagination, with sound and har- 
monious verse. 



JOHN LYLY. 
1553-1601. 

Lyly, who has already been noticed as a prose 
writer, is the author of the following plays : — 

ALEXANDER AND CAMPASPE ; 
SAPPHO ; 
ENDYMION ; 
GALATHEA ; 
MIDAS ; 

MOTHER BOMBIE; 
WOMAN IN THE MOON; 
MAID. : HER METAMORPHOSIS; 
LOVE: HIS METAMORPHOSIS. 

Lyly was better suited by genius and imagination 
for the lighter strains of lyric poetry, than for the 
drama. He was, nevertheless, the author of the above 
nine dramatic pieces. Seven of these are in prose, one 
in blank verse, and one in rhyme. They were all 
written for Court entertainments ; but were, however, 
performed at theatres, usually by the children of St. 
Paul's and the Revels. They are all wanting in variety 
of action and intensity of passion, the first being 
servilely copied from Plautus. 



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145 



WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. 
1564-1616. 

Shakspeare was born at Stratford- on- Avon, and was 
educated at the Free Grammar- School of his native 
town, from which he was removed at an early age. 
His father, a butcher, was sometime high-bailiff of 
Stratford. At eighteen years of age he married a 
farmer's daughter of the name of Anne Hathaway, and 
a story of some degree of probability tells of his escaping 
to London to avoid a prosecution on a charge of deer- 
stealing. In the great city he fell into theatrical 
society, and became an actor. It has, however, never 
been stated what characters he sustained, except on the 
authority of Howe, who assigns to him the part of the 
Ghost in his own play of "Hamlet." Through the 
instrumentality of the Earl of Southampton, who had 
become his patron and who advanced him money, he 
became at a later period, 1589, proprietor of the Globe 
Theatre, in Blackfriars. After amassing a considerable 
amount of money, he returned to his native town, 
Stratford- on- Avon, where, on his 52nd birthday, he 
died. 

Tragedies. 

MACBETH. I ROMEO AND JULIET. 

KING LEAH. | HAMLET. 

OTHELLO. 

Comedies. 

MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S I AS YOU LIKE IT. 

DREAM. J LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. 

MERCHANT OF VENICE. 

Historical Plays. 
RICHARD III. I KING JOHN. 

HENRY V. J CORIOLANUS. 

JULIUS CESAR. 

The above are the principal of the thirty- seven plays 
which Shakspeare wrote. They not only contain the 
finest passages, but so display the varied powers of his 
mind, that to be acquainted with them is to know the 

L 



146 Handbook oj 



author in his finest vein. In the other plays, however, 
are some original characters, the portraiture of which 
displays a happy and marvellous insight into life, and a 
wonderful power of delineation. Though most of his 
plays were published separately during his lifetime, the 
first edition of Shakspeare appears to have been pub- 
lished seven years after his death, in 1623 ; the second ten 
years afterwards; the third in 1644, and the fourth after 
the lapse of another year. "Macbeth," the first of the 
above list — but written about 1606, and therefore one of 
his later works — has been well called the most sublime i 
and impressive drama the world has ever beheld ; and 
"King Lear," which was produced about the same date, 
is perhaps the most original and wonderful of dramatic 
conceptions. In " Love's Labour's Lost," Shakspeare hits 
the failing of the day in much the same way as did Lyly in 
his "Euphues." The alliteration in the title gives evidence 
of this, and the character of Don Armado is an exem- 
plification of the strained conventionalism of the Italian 
school. Many of the plots in the plays are founded upon 
portions of history, and notable use was made of Ralph 
Holinshed's "Chronicle," from which whole sentences 
were taken. This does not lessen the value or origin- z 
ality of our author. It shows rather the wonderful 
power of assimilating the ideas, habits, and thoughts 
of every- day life, with the loftier creations of his own 
genius. In creative power he stands alone, and no one 
ever had such a variety of imagination, with such power 
of language. " He not only had in himself the genius 
of every faculty and feeling, bufc he could follow them ' | 
intuitively into all their conceivable ramifications, 
through every change of fortune, or conflict of passion, j 
or turn of thought; and when he conceived a character, 
whether real or imaginary, he not only entered into all 
its thoughts and feelings, but seemed instantly, and as 
if by touching a secret spring, to be surrounded with 
all the same objects, the same local, outward, and un- j 
foreseen accidents which would occur in reality. In j 
reading this author, you do not merely learn what his 



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147 



characters say — you see their persons. By something 
expressed or understood, you are at no loss to decipher 
their peculiar physiognomy, the meaning of a look, the 
grouping, the by-play, as we might see it on the stage. 
A word, an epithet, paints a whole scene, or throws us 
back whole years in the history of the persons repre- 
sented. His plays are properly expressions of the pas- 
sions, not descriptions of them. His characters speak 
like men, not like authors. Passion with him is not 
some one habitual feeling or sentiment, preying upon 
itself, growing out of itself, and moulding everything 
to itself; it is modified by all the other feelings to which 
the individual is liable, and to which others are liable 
with him ; subject to all the fluctuations of caprice and 
accident. The dialogues in 'King Lear,' in 'Macbeth,' 
that between Brutus and Cassius, and nearly all those 
in which the interest is wrought up to the highest 
pitch, afford examples of this dramatic fluctuation of 
passion." 



THOMAS LODGE. 
1573-1625. 

Born in Lincolnshire, he was educated at Cambridge, 
and became a scholar of Trinity College. He subsequently 
settled in London, where he embraced the Catholic 
religion, and practised as a physician with much success. 
In 1594 he wrote 

WOUNDS FOR CIVIL WAR, 

containing much powerful writing, although mixed up 
with much drunken buffoonery and clownish mirth. 



BEAUMONT and FLETCHER. 
1576-1625. 

Beaumont, born at Grace Dieu, in Leicestershire, was 
educated at Cambridge, and admitted to the Inner 

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Handbook of 



Temple ; but, on account of his preference for author- 
ship, he does not appear to have prosecuted his legal 
studies. He was the son of a judge, and of a good 
Leicestershire family. Basking in the sunshine of 
Shakspeare's influence, he wrote rapidly and well — too 
much, it is feared, for his strength. He died before he 
reached the age of thirty. 

John Fletcher was born in 1576, the son of the Bishop 
of Bristol, and educated with his friend Beaumont at 
Cambridge, where he appears to have distinguished 
himself. He was born ten years before, and died ten 
years after his friend Beaumont, with whom he was 
associated by the strongest ties of friendship, as well as 
in every transaction, whether of business or pleasure. 
Fletcher fell a victim to the plague in 1625, and was 
buried in St. Mary Overy's Church, Southwark, where 
his monument still remains. 

RULE A WIFE AND HAVE A WIFE. 

THE WO 31 AX HATER. 

THE FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS. 

THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN. 

THE WILD GOOSE-CHASE. 

WIT WITHOUT MONEY. 

THE CORONATION. 

These plays are perhaps the principal of their con- 
joint productions. They are conspicuous for the in- 
genuity of their plot, the sprightly nature of the dia- 
logue, and strong power of character delineation. The 
"Wild Goose- Chase" is the best of their works. Traces 
of haste and carelessness mark their writings ; this, 
however, is easily ascribed to the number of pieces 
produced in so short a period. 

It is generally allowed that Fletcher created the plays, 
and that Beaumont laid down the order and plan of 
clevelopment. 

It has been said of their writings by Mr. Collier, — 
u There are such extremes of grossness and magnificence 
in their drama, so much sweetness and beauty, inter- 
spersed with views of nature, either falsely romantic 



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or vulgar beyond reality; there is so much to animate 
and amuse us, and yet so much that we would willingly 
overlook ; that I cannot help comparing the contrasted 
impressions which they make, to those which we re- 
ceive from visiting some great and ancient city, pic- 
turesquely but irregularly built, glittering with spires, 
and surrounded with gardens, but exhibiting in many 
quarters the lanes and hovels of wretchedness. " 

It is related that Beaumont and Fletcher used to 
frequent taverns, in order to find opportunities for the 
study of character, and that once when they differed 
as to the termination of a piece they had written, and 
maintained the one that the king must be put to death, 
the other that he ought not, they were both arrested as 
dangerous characters and for plotting treason. 

" The Faithful Shepherdess " is Fletcher's work ex- 
clusively, and is exceedingly rich in fancy and feeling. 



THOMAS MIDDLETON. 
1600-1627. 

All known of him is, that he was appointed Chrono- 
loger to the city of London, within the above dates. 
Less of his life is known than of any of his contem- 
poraries. 

THE WITCH. 

A GAME OF CHESS. 

WOMEN BEWARE OF WOMEN. 

The latter has all the peculiarity of the strongly- 
marked character of Middleton's writings. It is sup- 
posed, and not without some reason, that the first play 
of "The Witch," suggested the incantation scene in 
"Macbeth." The greatest pieces of Middleton are 
comedies, and they bear favourable comparison with the 
works of contemporaries. 



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Handbook of 



GEOKGE CHAPMAN. 
1557-1634. 

Little is known of this author, who appears to have 
been at Oxford at one period of his life. When in 
London he secured the patronage of Henry, Prince of 
Wales, and of the Earl of Somerset, and held some 
position at Court. He is buried in St. Giles-in-the- 
Fields, where a monument was erected to his memory, 
by his particular and intimate friend Inigo Jones. 

FOUNTAIN OF NEW FASHIONS. 
THE WILL OF WOMAN. 
EASTWARD HO! 
BUSSY D'AMBOISE. 

Chapman's best plays are tragic ones, of which " Bussy 
d' Amboise " stands first. His didactic descriptive pas- 
sages are considered by Lamb as the nearest approach, 
of any writers of the time, to Shakspeare. 



JOHN MAKSTON. 
1600-1634. 

But few circumstances remain on record of his life. 
Little is known beyond that he was a student at Corpus 
Christi College, Oxford. 

THE MALCONTENT; 
INSATIATE COUNTESS; 
WHAT YOU WILL, 

are amongst the eight plays Marston has written, and are 
perhaps the best. He appears to have enjoyed great 
reputation as a dramatist at the time in which he wrote. 
This reputation as a writer rests more upon the scorn 
and indignation he showed at the vices of his time, 
than upon any sympathy with the finer feelings of hu- 
manity. 



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151 



BENJAMIN JONSON. 
1574-1637. 

Born at Westminster, he was educated in the school 
of that name, under Camden. There is some little 
uncertainty as to his early life. The posthumous son of 
a clergyman, he was brought up as a bricklayer by his 
step-father. Subsequently he went to Cambridge, but 
poverty compelled him to return to his trade. He was 
introduced by Camden to Sir Walter Raleigh, whose 
son he accompanied on a Continental tour. 

EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR. 

EVERY MAN OUT OF HIS HUMOUR. 

CYNTHIA'S REVELS. 

THE POETASTER. 

THE TRAGEDY OF LEGANUS. 

CATALINE. 

EPICINE. 

His principal pieces are considered to be, "Every 
Man in his Humour," which still keeps possession of 
the stage, and "Epicine," which Dryden terms a perfect 
comedy. His productions generally, though hardly fit 
for representation at the present day, on account of their 
coarse humour, are acknowledged to form a mint of 
poetic wealth. 

JOHN FOED. 
1586-1639. 

Born at Islington, in Devonshire. He became a 
member of the Middle Temple, 1602. His first pro- 
ductions of a literary character appear in conjunction 
with Rowley, Dekker, and others. 

THE LOVER'S MELANCHOLY. 
LOVE'S SACRIFICE. 
BROTHER AND SISTER. 
THE BROKEN HEART. 

The " Brother and Sister," which contains scenes of 
painful interest and deeply wrought feeling, is objec- 



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Handbook of 



tionable, oil account of its subject. The pieces are 
remarkable for their deep pathos, and display perhaps 
greater genius than evinced by Massinger. Eleven 
dramas are assigned to him, in which tragedy appears 
to have been his decided predilection. 



Born at Salisbury, the son of one of the Earl of 
Pembroke's retainers, employed as a special messenger 
to Queen Elizabeth, and educated at St. Alban's Hall, 
Cambridge, where he was supported by the kindness 
of the Earl of Pembroke. He appears to have taken 
no degree, in consequence, as is generally supposed, of 
embracing the Catholic faith, and thereby alienating 
himself from his patron and his Protestant friends. 
Subsequently to this he seems to have led for some 
years a life of idleness, save in assisting others in their 
dramatic productions. Little is heard of him till he 
produced his "Virgin Martyr" in 1622, sixteen years 
after his arrival in London. From this period he was 
engaged in writing plays, the last of which appeared six 
weeks prior to his death, which is noticed in the burial 
register of St. Saviour's, Southwark, by the entry on 
that date of one Philip Massinger, a " stranger." 



THE OLD LAW. 
THE VIRGIN MARTYR. 
THE UNNATURAL COMBAT. 
THE RENE GAD 0. 

THE NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS. 

THE CITY MADAM. 

THE FATAL DOWRY. With Others. 



An absence of profanity marks all his writings ; no 
coarse, vulgar, or disgusting passages mar his pages. 
His Sir Giles Overreach in " The New Way to Pay Old 
Debts," and his Luke in " The City Madam," are 
decidedly the most successful delineations of his style. 
His tragedies possess a calm and dignified seriousness, 



PHILIP MASSINGER. 
1584-1640. 




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153 



touching both the heart, and gratifying the taste. 
There can be bnt little doubt that Mas singer was the 
immediate successor of Shakspeare in point of ex- 
cellence, if we give place to Beaumont, Fletcher, and 
Jonson. 



JOHN WEBSTER. 
1600-1661. 

Little is recorded of his birth or parentage. He 
was, however, parish-clerk at St. Andrew's, Holborn, 
and a member of the Merchant Tailors' Company. He 
wrote the four following dramas : — 

THE WHITE DEVIL ; 
THE DUCHESS OF MALFY 
APPIUS AND VIRGINIA; 
THE THRACIAN WONDER. 

The characters in " The White Devil " are drawn with 
great spirit, and the delineation in " The Duchess of 
Many" displays a power and originality of imagination 
which none of Shakspeare' s minor contemporaries 
ever achieved. 

" The plans of his dramas, like those of his con- 
temporaries in general, are irregular and confused, the 
characters often wildly distorted, and the whole com- 
position in some degree imperfect. Yet there are 
single scenes in his works, which, as exhibitions of the 
more violent passions, are inferior to nothing in the 
whole range of the British drama. He was a man of 
truly original genius, and seems to have felt strong 
pleasure in whatever was terrible, even though it might 
border on extravagance." 



JAMES SHIRLEY. 
1594-1666. 

BorninLondon in 1594 ; educated at Merchant Tailors' 
School, he from thence entered St. John's College, 



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Oxford. Laud, the then president, refused to admit 
him to holy orders. Leaving Oxford for Cambridge, 
he received ordination, and subsequently obtained pre- 
ferment at St. Albans. Changing his religion, he gave 
up his living, and became master in the Grammar- School 
at St. Albans, which, being irksome to him, he shortly 
resigned, removed to London, resided in Gray's Inn, 
and became a writer of plays. When the great fire 
took place in 1666 his house was burnt, which so 
affected him, that both his wife and himself died 
within twenty-four hours of each other, and were 
interred in the same grave. 

THE YOUNG ADMIEAL. 
THE GRATEFUL SERVANT. 
THE LADY OF PLEASURE. 
THE BALL. 
THE ROYAL MUSTER, 
THE GAMESTER. 
THE DUKE. 
THE TRAITOR. 

He entirely belongs to the old school of English 
dramatists, of which he was no mean cipher. The 
language he employs is purely that of idiomatic English. 
His characters, especially female ones, are clothed in 
purity of thought and language. His " Young Admiral 
appears to have been his first licensed play. 



THOMAS OTWAY. 
1651-1685. 

Educated at Winchester School, he was entered a 
commoner of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1669. Having 
left the college without a degree, he went to London, 
and took to the stage ; but had very little success as 
an actor. Not discouraged, however, by his failure as 
a player, he became an author, and produced, in 1675, 
" Alcibiades," his first tragedy. Otway's wit procured 
for him the patronage of the Earl of Plymouth, who 
obtained for him a cornetcy in the army of Flanders. 



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He soon gave up his commission, however, not liking 
the army, and returned to London in great poverty, 
where he again began to write for the stage. He lived 
in miserable indigence, and is said to have died of 
hunger. 

ALCIBIADES. 

DON CARLOS, PRINCE OF SPAIN. 
TITUS AND BERNICE. 
THE CHEATS OF SCAPIN. 
FRIENDSHIP IN FASHION. 
THE ORPHAN. 

HISTORY AND FALL OF CAIUS MARIUS. 
THE SOLDIER'S FORTUNE. 
THE ATHEIST. 
VENICE PRESERVED. 

"The Orphan" is, perhaps, the most pleasing of all 
Otway's plays ; but the greatest of all his dramatic 
efforts is his " Venice Preserved," which still keeps 
possession of the stage. This was his last effort, and 
is altogether of a higher order than any of his 
other performances. He wrote, besides plays, numerous 
poems, and translated various works. His complete 
writings were published in three volumes, in 1757, and 
again, in four volumes, in 1813. He was always re- 
markable for moving the tender passions, and^especially 
valued for the sprightliness of his conversation and 
the keenness of his wit ; but, like the wits of all ages, 
he was a wretched economist. In comedy, he has been 
deemed too licentious, reflecting the spirit of the time 
of Charles II. ; but in tragedy, few English poets ever 
equalled him, and certainly none ever excelled him in 
touching the passion of love. 



NATHANIEL LEE, 
1660-1692, 

Was the son of Dr. Lee, rector of Hatfield, in 
Hertfordshire ; he received a classical education at 
Westminster School, and was afterwards elected a 

f 



156 



Handbook of 



scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge. He failed in 
obtaining the Fellowship he coveted, and subsequently 
tried to push his fortune at Court, in which also he was 
disappointed. Eventually he turned his attention to the 
stage, and at a very early age made his appearance at 
the Duke's Theatre, in the character of Duncan, in 
" Macbeth." His imagination at this period overcame his 
reason, and in 1684 he was conveyed to Bedlam — wild 
with insanity — where he remained nearly four years. 

He had the good fortune to recover his reason, but he 
did not long survive the event. In his latter years he 
appears to have been supported by charity. He died in 
London, and was buried in St. Clement's Church. 

RIVAL QUEENS. 
ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 
LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS. 
THEODOSIUS. 
MITHRIDATES. 

These are decidedly the best of his tragedies. In 
tenderness and genuine passion he is superior to 
Dryden. The ungoverned fancy which has been 
ascribed to him are excused as the sallies of youth. A 
want of discretion is discernible, which otherwise would 
have rendered his poetical conceptions consistent and 
methodical. Still, no finer passages are to be found in 
Dryden than in the wild ardour and martial enthusiasm 
of Lee's conceptions. 



SIR GEORGE E THE RIDGE. 
1636-1694. 

This gallant and remarkable wit flourished in the 
reign of Charles II. and James II. Born of a good 
Oxfordshire family, educated partly at Cambridge, 
and subsequently at Paris, he, on his return to England, 
entered one of the Inns of Court, and for a short time 
studied law, which he eventually relinquished for gayer 
and more pleasurable pursuits. He was appointed 



English Literature. 



157 



plenipotentiary at Ratisbon, and after a festival evening, 
so common at the time, fell clown the stairs of his own 
house, and was killed. 

SHE WOULD IF SHE COULD ; 
COMICAL REVENGE; 
EVERY MAN IN HIS MODE, 

are amongst his plays, all of which were received 
with much approval in his time, and gave him a stand- 
ing amongst such wits of the time as Sedley, Bucking- 
ham, and Rochester. 



JOHN DRYDEN. 
1631-1701. 

Dryden, the son of Erasmus Dryden, of Titchmarch, 
and of a good Northamptonshire family, was born on 
the 9th of August in the year above-mentioned. He was 
educated at Westminster School ; matriculated at and 
afterwards elected a scholar of Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge. His circumstances of life were the reverse of 
affluent. He married Lady Elizabeth Howard, sister of 
the Earl of Berkshire, by whom he had three sons ; and, 
after a long life of labom*, fatigue, and harass of mind, 
Dryden died of gout, aged 69 years. 

WILD GALLANT. 

RIVAL LADIES. 

ALL FOR LOVE. 

THE INDIAN EMPEROR. 

THE REHEARSAL. 

THE CONQUEST OF GRENADA. 

DON SEBASTIAN. 

THE SPANISH FRIAR. 

These are some of his plays, the latter comedy 
being decidedly good. "The Conquest of Grenada," 
though fall of genius, is extravagant in the extreme. 
His plays have fallen completely into oblivion. Still 
he was a powerful reasoner, strong in language, imagery, 
and information, but marked by extravagance and ab- 



158 



Handbook of 



surdity. As entire works few possess real merit, but 
brilliant scenes are contained in most of them. 



JOHN CROWNE, 
1704, 

Was the son of an independent preacher in Nova 
Scotia. Having come to England in the capacity of 
gentleman-usher to an old lady, he subsequently became 
an author by profession, and enjoyed the equivocal 
honour of the patronage of the Earl of Rochester, as a 
dramatic rival of Dryden. Though he retained the 
favour of the Court after he had been cast off by Lord 
Rochester, from having severely satirized the Whigs, he, 
nevertheless, died in deep poverty and great obscurity. 
He wrote altogether eighteen pieces, seventeen of which 
were printed. The most worthy of mention are, 

THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM ; 
SIR COURTLY NICE. 

His bombastic tragedies are rhymed, and are among 
the worst specimens of the corrupt taste which then ruled 
the drama. All his plots are perplexed and undramatic ; 
yet in his comedies, which are his best perform- 
ances, there is considerable merit in his portraiture of 
character. 



GEORGE FARQUHAR. 
1678-1707. 

Born at Londonderry, in 1678, and son of the Dean 
of Armagh, his early education was a provincial one ; 
but, as soon as qualified, he matriculated at Trinity 
College, Dublin. He was considered, however, among 
his fellow- students one of the dullest young men of his 
time. On quitting college he entered upon an engage- 
ment with the manager of the Dublin Theatre : this 
occupation he relinquished after a brief stay, in conse- 
quence of wounding a fellow-tragedian. His abilities 



English Literature. 159 

and agreeable address commended him to the patronage 
of the Earl of Orrery, who gave him a lieutenant's 
commission in his own regiment. 

LOVE IN A BATTLE. 

THE CONSTANT COUPLE. 

INCONSTANT. 

TWIN RIVALS. 

THE RECRUITING OFFICER. 

THE BEAUX'S STRATAGEM. 

Of these comedies the last is decidedly the best, 
containing some ludicrous and natural incidents in a 
most accurately arranged plot. The opinions of critics 
upon his writings have been naturally various. It has 
been objected that his productions were too hasty, and 
his scenes equally if not more gross than other writers 
of his time. His " Twin Rivals " was one of his most 
perfect, regular, and finished plays. " The Beaux' s Stra- 
tagem," which he wrote in six weeks, under the depres- 
sion of illness, enjoyed a successful run, and kept 
large audiences in roars of laughter, while its unhappy 
and still youthful author was stretched on a death-bed, 
rendered more distressing to him by the reflection that 
he was about to leave two daughters unprovided for. 
Earquhar wrote with great ease and humour; "but, 
though some of his plays have been acted at no remote 
date, there is one powerful reason for the neglect into 
which they have now fallen. The characters are almost 
without exception profligates, whose language and 
conduct are rather fitted to shock than to please the 
comparatively refined readers of the present age." 



"WILLIAM WYCHERLY. 
1650-1715. 

Son of David Wycherly, of Cleve, in Shropshire. At 
fourteen he was sent to France, 4 and on his return to 
England entered as gentleman commoner of Queen's 
College, Oxford. Like more than one of his predeces- 




160 



Handbook of 



sors, lie abandoned the law for the wit and gaiety of the 
time, and became an especial favourite of the notorious 
Duchess of Cleveland, and an associate of the Duke of 
Buckingham. In an illness he was visited by the king, 
who on his recovery offered him the tutorship to his son, 
which offer was revoked upon his marriage with the 
Countess of Drogheda. After this he spent several 
years in prison, and just eleven days before his death he 
married a second time, a young lady with a fortune of 
£1,500. 

LOVE IN A WOOD. 
GENTLEMAN'S DANCING MASTER. 
COUNTRY VTIFE. 
PLAIN DEALER. 

As a dramatist he stood high. The " Country Wife" 
was his most popular production, and the " Plain 
Dealer," that which caused his marriage with the 
Countess of Drogheda. His plays, from their corrup- 
tion and profligacy, are now buried in the history of the 
past. 



NICHOLAS HOWE. 
1673-1718. 

The son of John Rowe, sergeant-at-law, of Beckford, 
in Bedfordshire. He was educated at Westminster, 
under Busby, and. chosen one of the King's scholars. 
When sixteen years of age he entered as a student of the 
Middle Temple. At nineteen, being left his own master, 
he turned his attention to poetry, and withdrew from the 
less attractive reading for his profession. He was 
under-secretary for three years when the Duke of New- 
castle was Secretary of State, and after being made 
poet-laureate at the accession of George L, he was 
appointed one of the land-surveyors of the Customs of 
the port of London. He was also clerk of the council 
to the Prince of Wales, and was made secretary of the 
presentations by Lord- Chancellor Parker. He died at 



English Literature. 



161 



tlie age of forty-five and was "buried in Westminster 
Abbey. 

THE AMBITIOUS STEPMOTHER. 

TAMERLANE. 

THE FAIR PENITENT. 

ULYSSES. 

THE ROYAL CONVERT. 
THE BITER. 
JANE SHORE. 
LADY JANE GREY. 

Besides these plays, he published an edition of 
Shakspeare, in which he ventures on various restora- 
tions of his author's text. In the composition of his 
dramas Rowe shows little depth of refined art in the 
portraying of character, though he writes with the 
easy grace of a well-educated man of fashion. His 
versification is harmonious, and the language in the 
dialogues natural. His best performance is " The Fair 
Penitent," which displays great power of imagination, 
and contains several well- wrought passages. 



SIR JOHN VANBRUGH, 
1066-1726, 

Was of foreign lineage, his grandfather being a 
citizen of Ghent, who fled to England during the 
persecutions of the Duke of Alva, and died in 1646, 
leaving a handsome fortune to his family. Sir John 
was born in either London or Chester, and very little 
is known of him till he began to write for the stage. 
In his latter years he turned architect, and designed 
Blenheim House for the Duke of Marlborough. 

THE PROVOKED WIFE. 
THE PROVOKED HUSBAND. 

As mere literary productions, these are worthy of 
much admiration ; yet so libertine are they, not merely 
in language, but in plot, in sentiment, and general 
tendency, that they are calculated to corrupt as well as 

M 



162 



Handbook of 



to please. They are now banished, not only from the 
stage, bnt from the closet. 



WILLIAM CONGREVE. 
1669-1729. 

Born at Bardsey, in the "West Biding of Yorkshire, 
and educated in Ireland, where his father held a staff- 
appointment in the army. He received the finish to 
his education at Trinity College, Dublin, under Dr. 
Ashe. Soon after the Revolution he was sent to 
England and became a stndent in the Temple. Fortune 
seems to have favonred him in a special manner : he 
received the patronage of Lord Halifax, who gave him 
appointments under government worth £600 a year ; 
and again, in the reign of George I., his emolnments 
were raised to £1,200 a year by his secretaryship for 
the, Island of Jamaica. Towards the close of his life 
he was a great invalid, and latterly snffered from total 
blindness. He died at the age of 60, at his house in 
Surrey Street, Strand, leaving the bulk of his fortune 
to the Duchess of Marlborough, daughter-in-law of the 
Great Duke. 

OLD BACHELOR. 
DOUBLE DEALER. 
MOURNING BRIDE. 
JUDGMENT OF PARIS. 

His only tragedy was his "Mourning Bride," which 
possesses a higher degree of merit than the other more 
serious plays of his day : passages in it are considered 
by Johnson as finer than any of Shakspeare's. He ap- 
pears to shine rather in a brilliant stream of wit than in 
any one particular passage. He was a perfect master, 
moreover, of the rules of dramatic art. His works 
are those of a mind replete with imagery and quick 
in combination. He surpasses not only all the drama- 
tists, but every English comic writer whatever, in wit : 
he lavishes this quality upon his writings only too 



English Literature. 



163 



abundantly, causing every character to speak with 
nearly the same brilliancy. For this and other reasons, 
the persons of his plays are allowed to be not very 
exact representations of nature. 



GEORGE LILLO. 
1693-1739. 

A jeweller near Moorgate, London, was educated as 
a Protestant Dissenter. He produced seven dramas, 
three of which are printed in every collection of acting 
plays. These three are : — 

GEORGE BARNWELL j 
ARDEN OF FAVERSHAM; 
FATAL CURIOSITY. 

To exhibit the progress from smaller to greater 
crimes is the sole purpose Lillo has in view in all his 
plays. The impure passion of Barnwell, the ill- sup- 
pressed passion of Arden's wife for the lover of her 
youth, and the impatience under poverty of the Wil- 
mots (in "Fatal Curiosity"), are the three beginnings 
of vice, all of which terminate in murder. The latter 
work stands as a masterpiece of dramatic con- 
struction, and the catastrophe is eminently appalling 
and tragic. It is considered scarcely inferior in con- 
struction to the " (Edipus Tyrannus " of Sophocles. In 
both, the means apparently tending to happiness produce 
the most agonizing misery. The inflated language is, 
however, by no means equal to the construction. 



THOMAS SOUTHEENE. 
1659-1746. 

Born in Dublin, and educated at that University. At 
eighteen he quitted college, and entered himself a mem- 
ber of the Middle Temple. He too, like Wycherly, 
abandoned the law for the more seductive attractions 

m 2 



164 



Handbook of 



of the Muses. He appears to have entered the army at 
the time of Monmouth's rebellion, and served under the 
Duke of York. He was the longest lived dramatist on 
record, reaching his eighty- sixth year. The latter years 
of his life were spent, unlike many of his contemporaries, 
in ease and retirement, arising from the sale of his com- 
mission, and the profits on his dramatic works — 

ISABELLA ; OR, THE FATAL MARRIAGE ; 

OBOONOKO ; 

THE SPARTAN DAME ; 

with seven others of lesser importance. From his 
" Oroonoko," he appears to have been the first English 
writer who inveighed against the traffic in slaves, and 
in this play he deals strong invectives against the 
system. The characteristic power of his writing may 
be judged from this piece and his play of "Isabella." 
They do not display a very high order of genius. 



EDWARD YOUNG. 
1681-1765. 

The son of Dr. Edward Young, Dean of Sarum, and 
a foundation- scholar of Winchester: finishing* his edu- 
cation there, he was nominated to a law- fellow ship at 
All Souls, by Archbishop Tenison, where he took his 
doctor's degree in 1719. In this year he was appointed 
tutor in Lord Exeter's family. Under the Duke of 
Wharton's patronage he stood, but was the unsuccessful 
candidate, for Cirencester. In 1728 he was appointed 
chaplain to George II. , and at the age of eighty, clerk 
of the closet to the Princess Dowager of Wales, shortly 
after which he died. 

BUSIRIS. 

THE REVENGE. 

THE BROTHERS. 

The whole writings of Young may be estimated as 
gloomy advocates for religion and morality. He pos- 
sessed more poetic than dramatic excellence. 



English Literature. 



165 



SAMUEL FOOTE. 
1720-1777. 

The son of the M.P. at that time for Tiverton. He 
was educated at Worcester College, Oxford, which he left 
before the usual time on account of some extravagance. 
He entered upon the study of the law, but his volatile 
disposition led him soon to abandon it. He married a 
lady of considerable fortune, which union proved very 
unhappy. A separation having taken place, he aban- 
doned himself to all the vices of the town, but particu- 
larly gaming. His fortune becoming exhausted, he took, 
from sheer necessity, to the stage, on which he first 
appeared in the character of Othello, and miserably 
failed. He acted a little better in comedy, however, 
but never really succeeded until he began to represent 
characters in his own plays. In 1747 he opened a small 
theatre in the Haymarket, and here commenced his 
career as an author, by producing a series of satirical 
entertainments. After having one of his legs ampu- 
tated, in consequence of a severe fall from his horse 
when riding out with the Duke of York, he continued 
to act with a cork leg. Having become afflicted with 
paralysis and loss of spirit, he began to travel for health, 
but died suddenly at Dover, on his way to Paris. 

The plays of Foote in a complete form may be easily 
obtained. The following, however, are those most 
worthy of mention, though they are now seldom or 
ever acted: — 

THE MINOR. 

THE ENGLISHMAN RETURNED FROM PARIS. 

THE BANKRUPT. 

THE ORATORS. 

THE LAME LOVER. 

THE MAYOR OF GARRATT. 

THE LIAR. 

In "The Minor" he holds up to ridicule the Metho- 
dists ; the passion for travelling in the second ; the 
newspapers in the third ; the debating societies in the 



166 



Handbook of 



fourth.; and the Bar in " The Lame Lover." The last 
two in the list not being so exclusively adapted to the 
failings of his own time, have kept the stage longer than 
any other of his pieces. Foote's peculiar and unrivalled 
talents for colloquial wit, conversational power, aptness 
of repartee, and powers of mimicry and punning, aided 
by matchless self-possession, with utter disregard for 
the feelings of any one, are very faintly shadowed forth 
in his writings. 



GEQBGE COLMAN, 
1733-1794, 

Was bom at Florence, the son of Francis Column, 
English representative at the court of the Grand Duke 
of Tuscany. He was godson of George II., educated 
at Westminster, and from thence became a student at 
Christ Church College, Oxford; after which he entered 
Lincoln's Inn, and was eventually called to the Bar. 
At the close of his theatrical season in 1785, he was 
seized with palsy ; and at the beginning of the season 
1789 he suffered from derangement of intellect, which 
left him an idiot. In this unhappy condition he was 
entrusted to private cure at Paddington, where he died. 

POLLY HONEYCOMB ; 

THE JEALOUS WIFE ; 

THE CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE ; 

THE MERCHANT; 

FATAL CURIOSITY; 

MANAGER IN DISTRESS; 

are selected from about thirty-four of his plays which 
possess considerable merit, containing well- drawn cha- 
racters and highly effective scenes, directing the shaft 
of ridicule against the prevailing unci fashionable follies 
of his time. 



English Literature. 



167 



DAVID GARRICK. 
1718-1799. 

David Garrick was born at Hereford, the son of 
Peter Garrick, a captain in the army, whose family 
chiefly resided at Lichfield. At ten years of age he 
was sent to the Lichfield Grammar School. "When 
only twelve years of age, he evinced a strong leaning 
towards the theatrical profession, by performing with 
great credit the part of Sergeant Kite, in " The Recruit- 
ing Officer." After a short visit to Lisbon, he returned to 
London, and received a classical education at the hands 
of Dr. Johnson ; he then entered Lincoln's Inn, intending 
to embrace the law as a profession. After having be- 
come the recipient of a legacy of £1,000, he joined his 
brother as a wine merchant. The stage, however, had 
more allurements for him, and in 1741 he was engaged 
by Mr. GifFard, of Goodman's Fields Theatre, where he 
attempted the character of Richard III. with such 
great success that theatres in all parts of London were 
deserted in consequence of the audiences nocking to 
hear and see the performance of Garrick, which took 
the world by storm. His success quickly raised him to 
the head of his profession. While a manager, he care- 
fully expunged from the stage anything of an immoral 
tendency ; and the purity of the English drama was 
more fully carried out under his administration than 
under that of any of his predecessors. 

Whilst on a Christmas visit to Lord Aithorp, he was 
taken ill and returned to London, where, after a few 
days' illness, he died at his house in the Adelphi. He 
was buried with great funereal pomp in Westminster 
Abbey. 

THE LYING VALET. 
MISS IN HER. TEENS. 
LETHE. 

THE GUARDIAN. 
THE ENCHANTER. 
NECK OR NOTHING. 
THE IRISH WIDOW. 



168 



Handbook of 



These are amongst those works known to be of his 
authorship : he, moreover, altered and adapted several 
other pieces to the present exigencies and requirements 
of the stage. From the above list, the " Lying Yalet " 
and " Miss in her Teens" are unquestionably the best. 
Garrick's forte was decidedly that of an actor rather 
than an author ; and it can be justly remarked that he 
gave a popularity and importance to the Drama equiva- 
lent to that which marked it in the Elizabethan as;e. 



RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN. 
1751-1816. 

Born at Dorset Street, Dublin, and educated at Harrow. 
After leaving the latter he entered the Society of the 
Middle Temple. His life was of a dramatic and che- 
quered character throughout. 

In 1776 Sheridan became one of the managers of 
Drury Lane Theatre ; three years prior to which he 
married Miss Elizabeth Linley, through the instrumen- 
tality of whose father he was mainly indebted for his 
connection with the theatre. In 1780 we find him in 
Parliament — under the administration of Eox — member 
for Stafford. Under the Rockingham Administration 
he became Under-Secretary of State. His political 
speeches were marked more by perpetual wit and 
eloquence than for depth and logic. 

The theatrical career of Sheridan terminated with 
his authorship. His declining years were beset with 
difficulty and pecuniary embarrassment, which preyed 
upon his mind. He found himself deserted in the hour 
of adversity by all his former friends, with the excep- 
tion of his physician and a few of his poetical and 
literary associates. 

A TRIP TO SCARBOROUGH. 

THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL. 

THE TEMPEST. 

THE CRITIC. 

PIZARRO. 

THE CAMP. 



English Literature. 



169 



The " School for Scandal " has been acknowledged to 
surpass any comedy of modern time. His dramatic art 
is everywhere conspicuous in the ludicrous incidents and 
situations which it contains. This and "The Critic " 
are the best plays that Sheridan ever wrote. Both are 
decidedly most happy efforts of his pen. 



GEORGE COLMAN THE YOUNGER. 
1762-1830. 

The son of the dramatist of the same name, whose 
writings have been already noticed. He received his 
education at Westminster, Christ Church College, Oxford, 
and King's College, Aberdeen, and afterwards entered 
the Middle Temple. His predilection for the drama 
caused him speedily to relinquish his legal pursuits, and 
upon the death of his father he became manager of 
Covent Garden Theatre, the duties of which he dis- 
charged with zeal and energy. He was a favourite with 
George IV., and was, in conjunction with Sheridan, one 
of the most witty ornaments at the Royal table. His 
pecuniary difficulties forced him to seek refuge in the 
King's Bench, from which his Majesty released him by 
appointing him Examiner of Plays, at a salary of £400 
a year. He died in London. 

THE POOR GENTLEMAN. 

TWO TO ONE. 

TURK AND NO TURK 

NEW HAY IN THE OLD MARKET. 

BLUE BEARD. 

THE IRON CHEST. 

JOHN BULL. 

THE HEIR-AT-LAW. 

LOVE LAUGHS AT LOCKSMITHS. 

These are the best of the twenty-three pieces written 
by him. In his heroic pieces he displays much vigour 
and intellect, recalling much that was admirable in the 
style and thought of the ancient dramatists. 



INDEX. 



A. 



Aldhelm ...... 3 

Ale u in 4 

Alfred 4 

.Mfric 4 

Ascham 24 

Addison 77 

Arbutlmot 91 

B. 

Bede 3 

Bacon, lloger 7 

Barri . 6 

Berners 18 

Bellenden 19 

Bale 24 

Bible 35 

Bacon, Lord 40 

Burton 43 

Barrow 56 

Browne, Sir Thomas . . 53 

Bunyan Gl 

Baxter 62 

Boyle 63 

Burnet, Thomas. . . . 76 



Burnet, Gilbert .... 76 

Bolingbroke 95 

Berkeley 95 

Burke 113 

Brown 117 

Bentharn 121 

Burney 127 

Buckhurst 135 

Beaumont 147 

C. 

Cambrensis 6 

Chaucer 16 

Caxton 17 

Cavendish ..... 24 

Cranmer . . . .' . . 23 

Cheke 24 

Coyerdale 25 

Camden 38 

Cherbury, Herbert of . . 43 

Calamy 52 

Cowley 53 

Clarendon 55 

Cudworth 61 

Clarke 81 



Index. 



PAGE 

Chesterfield ..... 102 

Cobbett 126 

Chapman 150 

Crown e 158 

Congreve 162 

Colman 166 

Colman the younger . . 169 

D. 

Dunstan 4 

Dekker 42 

Dryden 71, 157 

Defoe 90 

D'Arblay 127 

E. 

Egbert 2 

Erigena 4 

Elyot 19 

Evelyn 73 

Echard 84 

Edwards 136 

Etheridge 156 

F. 

Fortescue 16 

Fabian 18 

Foxe 26 

Fuller 50 

Feltham 59 

Fielding 96 

Fox 116 

Foster 128 

Fletcher 147 

Ford 151 

Farquhar 158 

Foote 165 



PAGE 

a. 

Gfildas 3 

Gfeoffrey of Monmouth . . 6 

Giraldus de Barri ... 6 

Gesta 8 

Greene 34 ? 142 

Gaud en 51 

Goldsmith 103 

Gibbon m 

Garrick 167 

H. 

Higden 8 

Hoveden, Roger of . . . 8 

Huntingdon, Henry of . . 8 

Hall, Edward .... 21 

Holinshed 33 

Hooker 34 

Hakluyt 36 

Herbert of Cherbury . . 43 

Hall, Joseph 44 

Howell 52 

Hyde, Earl of Clarendon . 55 

Hobbes 57 

Henry, Matthew ... 75 

Hume 105 

Home 106 

Hazlitt 119 

Hey wood 135 

I. 

Ingulphus 8 

J. 

James 1 39 

Junius 102 



Index. 173 





PAGE 




PAGE 


Johnson, Samuel. 


. 106 




36 




. 108 




, 60 




. 151 






K. 




P. 


5 


L. 




Paris, Matthew . . 


. . 7 




5 




16 




21 




18 




22 




, 72 


Lyiy 


30, 144 




. . 77 




10 


Paley 


115 




. 147 




116 




155 




118 


Lillo 


, 163 


R. 

Ray 




M. 

Malmesbury, William of 




. . 37 
. 73 

, 98 

. . 118 


Monmouth, Geoffrey of . 
Matthew Paris . 

More, Sir Thomas . . 


6 
7 

. 13 
. 19 

. 56 
57 




. 61 


S. 

Saxon Chronicle . 




Montague, Lady . 


99 
120 


. . 5 




143 








149 


Sidney, Sir Philip . 


. . 32 




. 152 




, 34 






. . 34 


N. 










. 79 


Sidney, Algernon 


. . 60 




135 


Stillingfleet . . . 


. . 65 
. . 74 


0. 






. . 74 


Grdericus Vitalis 


8 


South . . 


. . 76 



174 



Index. 



PAGE 

Shaffcsbnry 75 

Steele 82 

Swift ....... 92 

Strype ....... 92 

Sterne 100 

Smollett 100 

Smith, Adam 108 

Stewart 119 

Scott ....... 122 

Southey 129 

Smith, Sydney . . . . 129 

Still 135 

Shakspeare 145 

Shirley 153 

Southerne 163 

Sheridan 168 

T. 

Theodore 1 

Trivet 8 

Trevisa 16 

Tyndale ...... 21 

Taylor 53 

Tillotson 64 



Temple ...... 64 

U. 

Ussher 44 

Udall 135 

V. 

Vitalis 

Vanbrugh 161 

W. 

Wickliffe 14 

Worde 18 

Wilson 33 

Walton 59 

Walpole 112 

Watson 117 

Whetstone ..... 136 

Webster 153 

Wycherly 159 

Y. 

Young 164 



History. 



HISTORY. 



THE WORKS OF WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT. 
1. THE LIBRARY EDITION. 

History of the Reign of Ferdi?iand and Isabella, the 
Catholic, of Spain. Steel engraved Portraits. 2 vols. 
8vo, cloth, 2 is. 

History of the Conquest of Mexico. With a Preliminary 
View of the Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the Life of 
the Conqueror, Fernando Cortes. Portraits, splendidly 
engraved on Steel. 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, 2 is. 

History of the Conquest of Pent. With a Preliminary 
View of the Civilization of the Incas. Steel engraved 
Portraits. 2 vols. 8vo, cloth, 2 is. 

History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain. 
Steel engraved Portraits. 3 vols. 8vo, cloth, 42s. 

History of the Reign of Charles the Fifth. By William 
Robertson, D.D. With an Account of the Emperor's 
Life after his Abdication. With Portraits. 2 vols. 8vo, 
cloth, 2 is. 

2. THE CABINET EDITION OF PRESCOTT S 
WORKS. 

Ferdinand and Isabella. With Portraits. 3 vols, 
post 8vo, cloth, 15s. 

The Conquest of Mexico. With Portraits. 3 vols, 
post 8vo, cloth, 15s. 

The Conqitest of Peru. With Portraits. 3 vols, post 
8vo, cloth, 15s. 

The History of Philip the Second, King of Spain. 3 
vols. With Portrait. 15s. 

History of the Reign of Charles the Fifth. With 
Portraits. 2 vols, post 8vo, cloth, 10s. 

Historical and Critical Essays. With Portraits. 1 vol. 
post 8vo, cloth, 5s. 

I — _ ^ , . - London ; George Routledge & Sons... , — 



History. 



3. THE ONE-VOLUME EDITION OF FRESCO TT 'S 
WORKS. (Crown 8vo, cloth.) 

Ferdinand and Isabella. 5 s. 
Conquest of Mexico. 5 s. 
Conquest of Pent. 5 s . 

History of Philip the Second. 5 s. (Vols. 1 and 2 
of the larger edition. ) 

History of Charles the Fifth. 5 s. 

4. THE PEOPLE'S EDITION OF FRESCO TVS 
WORKS. (Fcp. 8vo.) 

Ferdinand and Isabella. 2 vols. Boards, 4s. Cloth, 5s. 

History of the Conquest of Mexico. 2 vols. Boards, 4s. 
Cloth, 5s. 

History of the Conquest of Peru. 2 vols. Boards, 4s. 
Cloth, 5s. 

History of Philip the Second. 3 vols. Boards, 6s. 
Cloth, 7s. 6d. 

History of Charles the Fifth. By Dr. Robertson and 
William H. Prescott. 2 vols. Boards, 4s. Cloth, 5s. 



Froissarfs Chronicles of England, France, Spain, 

New edition, from the text of Colonel Johnes. With 
Notes, a Life of the Author, an Essay on his Works, and 
a Criticism on his History. Embellished with 120 beau- 
tiful Woodcuts, illustrative of the Manners, Customs, &c. 
2 vols, super-royal 8vo, cloth, 25s. 

Monstrelefs Chronicles of England and France. From 
the text of Colonel Johnes. With Notes, and upwards 
of 100 Woodcuts (uniform with Froissart). 2 vols, super- 
royal 8vo, cloth, 24s. 

Russell 1 s History of Modern Europe. With continua- 
tion by George Townsexd. 4 vols. 8vo, 21s. 

London : George Eoutledge & Sons. , , ■ ■ ,„ 



